Extraversion, Empathy, and Humor Style: An Investigation of the Introverted Sense of Humor

...............................................................................................5 Introduction and Literature Review ................................................................6 Methods...............................................................................................21 Results................................................................................................24 Discussion............................................................................................30 Conclusion...........................................................................................35 References............................................................................................36 Tables.................................................................................................46 Figures................................................................................................48 Appendices............................................................................................49 EXTRAVERSION, EMPATHY, AND HUMOR STYLE 5 Abstract The present study assesses the effects of extraversion, empathy, and humor style on humor score, while specifically focusing on the introverted sense of humor. 129 participants recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk took a survey consisting of the extraversion subscale of the Ten Item Short Version of the Big Five Inventory, the Humor Styles Questionnaire, and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. The study supportedThe present study assesses the effects of extraversion, empathy, and humor style on humor score, while specifically focusing on the introverted sense of humor. 129 participants recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk took a survey consisting of the extraversion subscale of the Ten Item Short Version of the Big Five Inventory, the Humor Styles Questionnaire, and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. The study supported previous findings in which extraversion positively relates to humor such that extraverts reported a greater usage of humor than did introverts. More specifically, both extraverts and introverts use adaptive humor styles (i.e. affiliative and self-enhancing humor) more than they use maladaptive humor styles (i.e. aggressive and self-defeating humor). Additionally, empathy and humor style interact such that empathetic individuals favor adaptive humor styles while unempathetic individuals have relatively heightened usage of the maladaptive humor styles while still primarily using the adaptive humor styles, no matter the level of extraversion.