HUMOR, COPING WITH STRESS, SELF-CONCEPT, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING

This paper provides an overview of our current research program focusing on the relationships between humor; self-concept, coping with stress, and positive affect. This research builds upon past work demonstrating a moderating effect of humor, wherein high humor individuals display less negative affect for adverse life circumstances than low humor individuals. The three studies described here address several limitations of this moderator research. These include a need to empirically document the precise relationship between humor and self-concept, a need to focus on the cognitive appraisals underlying the moderator effect, and a need to specifically examine the enhancing effects of humor by measuring positive mood states in response to various life events. Overall, the findings from these studies indicate that greater levels of humor are associated with (1) a more positive self-concept when considered in terms of actual-ideal discrepancies, self-esteem, and standards for self-worth evaluation. (2) more positive and self-protective cognitive appraisals in the face of stress, and (3) greater positive affect in response to both positive and negative life events. Taken together, these findings offer empirical support for the proposal that humor, in addition to buffering the effects of stress, may also play an important role in enhancing the enjoyment of positive life experiences. We conclude by briefly describing future research directions in the empirical study of humor. © 1993, Walter de Gruyter. All rights reserved.