Humor is hypothesized to be a social activity that alters the status of the humorist positively and that of the object or victim negatively. Of the two traditionally distingushed classes of humor, "ostracizing" humor singles out a victim, with others present or absent either incidental affiliates of the humorist (and one another) or unaffected. "AltBiative" humor, on the other hand, is focused ...

The effect of HIV infection on the prevalence and the rate of progression of chronic periodontitis is not clear. The aim of this study was to compare parameters associated with the severity of chronic periodontitis in terms of periodontal probing depths, gingival recession, plaque indexes, and bleeding indexes of HIV-seropositive subjects and healthy age-matched control subjects, and of HIV-ser...

results students (n = 157; 97.5%) opined that humor if incorporated appropriately in classroom teaching is a good thing and also helps in better retention of the topic being taught (n = 141; 75.15%). majority of students (n = 158; 98.12%) responded that use of humor in classroom teaching facilitates a good teacher-student relationship. majority of students (n = 146; 90.67%) also felt that havin...

It was hypothesized that appreciation of the structural basis and of sexual content in humor is related to punitiveness in different ways. Sixty-eight male subjects served as lay judges and stipulated what would be the just minimum and maximum punishment of committing one of 25 criminal acts and filled in scales relating to humor appreciation, conservatism, dogmatism, and intolerance of ambigui...

This study assessed the concurrent and prospective associations between psychosocial adjustment and four humor styles, two of which are adaptive (affiliative, self-enhancing) and two maladaptive (aggressive, self-defeating). Participants were 1,234 adolescents (52% female) aged 11-13 years, drawn from six secondary schools in England. Self-reports of psychosocial adjustment (loneliness, depress...

In this study, we examined the mediator effects of social support and self-esteem on the relationship between humor style and life satisfaction in Chinese college students. We had 477 university students, with age range of 18–23 respond to self-report measures of humor style questionnaire, multidimensional scale of perceived social support, Rosenberg self-esteem scale and satisfaction with life...

Humor is ubiquitous and often beneficial, but the conditions that elicit it have been debated for millennia. We examine two factors that jointly influence perceptions of humor: the degree to which a stimulus is a violation (tragedy vs. mishap) and one's perceived distance from the stimulus (far vs. close). Five studies show that tragedies (which feature severe violations) are more humorous when...

There seems to be general agreement, among humor researchers and laypersons alike, that there is considerable variability across individuals in the degree to which they possess a sense of humor. There is also general agreement that a sense of humor is a highly desirable trait to possess. As the American essayist Frank Moore Colby observed, "Men will confess to treason, murder, arson, false teet...

The cognitive mechanism of humor has been studied for centuries, with multiple seemingly incompatible theories proposed. However, none of existing theories is capable of explaining all empirical evidence. Recent research suggests emotional appraisals are tightly coupled and closely interact with other types of cognitive processes to create complex emotions and affects. This entangled nature con...