Allison Drake (Counseling, School, and Educational Psychology)
Zoom Link: https://buffalo.zoom.us/j/94584945022?pwd=QkpXdGltQXNWRkJRN1hEQ2pGb2Nmdz09Drake_Poster
Download: Drake_Poster.pdf
Abstract:
Humor has many forms and can significantly impact a person’s mood, relationships, and coping. The role of humor for coping and resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic is an emerging area of interest. Research has shown that some forms of humor are associated with positive affect, stronger social bonds, and adaptive coping strategies. Researchers have also demonstrated that humor can be maladaptive when used to suppress emotions, demean others, or avoid problems. As a complex and multifaceted construct with both adaptive and maladaptive mechanisms, research is needed to better understand humor, its measurement and associated outcomes. Such research is expected to provide invaluable insight regarding how humor may be effectively used to improve moods, enhance relationships, and cope effectively during these challenging times.
In psychological research, the emotional, social/interpersonal, and coping functions of humor have been the most widely studied and influential for measuring humor. Specifically, approaches emphasizing humor as a trait, a behavior, and a coping mechanism with emotional, social/interpersonal, and coping functions informed the development of the three most prominent measures of humor: the Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ), the Situational Humor Response Questionnaire (SHRQ), and the Coping Humor Scale (CHS), respectively. While each of these measures has been widely used to study the relationships between humor and one or two psychological constructs aligning with their respective conceptualizations, the lack of a comprehensive measure has made it difficult for researchers and clinicians to assess and monitor the key elements of humor simultaneously, relating them to the same important outcomes. Consequently, there exists no single measure that captures all three of the key aspects of interest—emotional, social/interpersonal, and coping—and administering all three measures for research and/or clinical purposes would be cumbersome. As such, attempts to examine humor as a whole and to compare research findings across studies remains a great challenge.
This study aims to examine three of the most commonly used and prominent humor measures through Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and to develop and validate a more comprehensive and economical measure that captures the emotional, social/interpersonal, and coping dimensions. Such an endeavor would prove invaluable for research and clinical applications alike.
Participants will be asked to complete a series of surveys, including the three most prominent measures of humor, as well as measures assessing mood, self-esteem, social support, interpersonal styles/problems, satisfaction with life, and coping styles. The exploratory data reduction technique of EFA will be used to identify the underlying factors of humor and to select the items that best represent the key domains of humor. Simultaneously, redundant and poor performing items will be eliminated. Finally, correlational analyses between the new comprehensive measure and relevant outcomes (e.g., mood, relationships, and coping) will offer support for its validity. This process of developing and validating a composite measure will permit researchers and clinicians to more comprehensively and economically assess the complex construct that is humor.