Humor Styles and Empathy in Junior-School Children
Humor is a complex phenomenon. For one individual a joke may be perceived as comical, yet for another, the same joke may be deemed completely inappropriate. The appropriate use of humor is perhaps dependent on how a humorist relates to, understands and can empathize with their audience. Thus, the pr...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology
2020-03-01
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| Series: | Europe's Journal of Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ejop.psychopen.eu/index.php/ejop/article/view/1934 |
| _version_ | 1797966681285328896 |
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| author | Caitlin Charlotte Halfpenny Lucy Amelia James |
| author_facet | Caitlin Charlotte Halfpenny Lucy Amelia James |
| author_sort | Caitlin Charlotte Halfpenny |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Humor is a complex phenomenon. For one individual a joke may be perceived as comical, yet for another, the same joke may be deemed completely inappropriate. The appropriate use of humor is perhaps dependent on how a humorist relates to, understands and can empathize with their audience. Thus, the present research aimed to determine whether empathy is related to junior-school children’s use of different humor styles. It has been proposed that four styles of humor exist, two of which are thought to be adaptive (affiliative and self-enhancing) and two of which are thought to be maladaptive (aggressive and self-defeating). However, research exploring the role of humor styles in younger children’s development has been limited. To investigate this the Humor Styles Questionnaire for young children (HSQ-Y) and the Thinking and Feeling Questionnaire were administered to 214 UK children aged 9-11 years old. Correlational analyses revealed that self-enhancing humor is associated with cognitive empathy, affective empathy and sympathy, affiliative humor is positively associated with cognitive empathy specifically and aggressive humor is negatively associated with affective empathy and sympathy. Possible explanations for these associations are explored, with a consideration of the direction for future research in this predominantly unexplored field of study. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T02:18:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-31c96c51a3df400d98ae22fa23ff1988 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1841-0413 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T02:18:04Z |
| publishDate | 2020-03-01 |
| publisher | PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Europe's Journal of Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-31c96c51a3df400d98ae22fa23ff19882023-01-03T00:27:13ZengPsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for PsychologyEurope's Journal of Psychology1841-04132020-03-0116114816610.5964/ejop.v16i1.1934ejop.v16i1.1934Humor Styles and Empathy in Junior-School ChildrenCaitlin Charlotte Halfpenny0Lucy Amelia James1School of Psychology, Keele University, Keele, United KingdomSchool of Psychology, Keele University, Keele, United KingdomHumor is a complex phenomenon. For one individual a joke may be perceived as comical, yet for another, the same joke may be deemed completely inappropriate. The appropriate use of humor is perhaps dependent on how a humorist relates to, understands and can empathize with their audience. Thus, the present research aimed to determine whether empathy is related to junior-school children’s use of different humor styles. It has been proposed that four styles of humor exist, two of which are thought to be adaptive (affiliative and self-enhancing) and two of which are thought to be maladaptive (aggressive and self-defeating). However, research exploring the role of humor styles in younger children’s development has been limited. To investigate this the Humor Styles Questionnaire for young children (HSQ-Y) and the Thinking and Feeling Questionnaire were administered to 214 UK children aged 9-11 years old. Correlational analyses revealed that self-enhancing humor is associated with cognitive empathy, affective empathy and sympathy, affiliative humor is positively associated with cognitive empathy specifically and aggressive humor is negatively associated with affective empathy and sympathy. Possible explanations for these associations are explored, with a consideration of the direction for future research in this predominantly unexplored field of study.https://ejop.psychopen.eu/index.php/ejop/article/view/1934childrenhumorhumor stylesempathyquantitative research |
| spellingShingle | Caitlin Charlotte Halfpenny Lucy Amelia James Humor Styles and Empathy in Junior-School Children Europe's Journal of Psychology children humor humor styles empathy quantitative research |
| title | Humor Styles and Empathy in Junior-School Children |
| title_full | Humor Styles and Empathy in Junior-School Children |
| title_fullStr | Humor Styles and Empathy in Junior-School Children |
| title_full_unstemmed | Humor Styles and Empathy in Junior-School Children |
| title_short | Humor Styles and Empathy in Junior-School Children |
| title_sort | humor styles and empathy in junior school children |
| topic | children humor humor styles empathy quantitative research |
| url | https://ejop.psychopen.eu/index.php/ejop/article/view/1934 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT caitlincharlottehalfpenny humorstylesandempathyinjuniorschoolchildren AT lucyameliajames humorstylesandempathyinjuniorschoolchildren |