Thesis (Ph.D.)--Antioch University, 2010. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed July 22, 2010). Advisor: Jon Wergin, Ph.D. "A dissertation submitted to the Ph.D. in Leadership and Change program of Antioch University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May, 2010."--from the title page. Includes bibliographical references (p. 241-263).

Thesis--Basel. / Vita. Bibliography: p. 264-271.

Thesis--Copenhagen. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1980. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 137-153).

Inaug.-Diss.--Bonn. / Vita. Bibliography: p. 244-246.

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M.Phil. / Everybody wants to experience happiness, prosperity and good health. Today's demands and pressures make it very difficult to experience well-being in our work environment and personal life. Symptoms like stress, negative attitude, depression, aggression and low productivity are visible. All these symptoms have an influence on the human body and emotions. Psychosomatic illnesses like depression, stress, heart disease, high blood pressure, asthma and back and shoulder pains are common phenomena. The question is what can a person do, in spite of the circumstances, to achieve personal well-being and healthiness. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of some emotions on personal well-being, specifically the influence of stress as an unhealthy emotion and laughter and humor as healthy emotions. The specific research questions are: 1. What is the effect of stress, as an unhealthy emotion, on a human's wellbeing? 2. What is the effect of laughter and humor, as healthy emotions, on a human's well-being? 3. What are the benefits that laughter and humor, as healthy emotions, have for personal wellbeing and healthiness? The research programme entails the following: Chapter one gives a general orientation of the study. The second chapter focuses on the influence of stress as an unhealthy emotion on personal well-being while chapter three deals with the influence of laughter and humor as healthy emotions on personal well-being. In chapter four the characteristics of a personal and professional leader as well as the main life domains are investigated. Chapter five concludes the research with a summary, findings and conclusion. 2. METHOD OF APPROACH A descriptive research strategy was followed in this study. A descriptive research study is a systematic, accurate and factual description of something, in this case the influence of some emotions on personal well-being, for the sake of better understanding, insight and informativeness (Smith, 1993:35). The prevalent research methods used were studies of existing literature available in this field as well as concept and phenomena analyses. 3. RESEARCH FINDINGS The research findings are as follows: Stress has a physiological and a psychological influence on the human body and has been shown to affect almost all body systems, resulting in cardiovascular disease, neuromuscular disorders (including migraine and chronic back pain}, respiratory and allergic disorders, immunologic disorders, gastrointestinal disturbances (including peptic ulcer disease, irritable bowel syndrome, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea), skin disease, dental problems, and a host of other disorders (Hafen, 1996:44). Laughter and humor have, because of the physiological changes that take place, a big impact in terms of physical benefits (including respiratory activity, oxygen exchange, heartrate, and toning the cardiovascular system), pain relief, (arthritis, gout, back and shoulder pain), immunity-enhancing and psychological benefits (stress relieve, bestowing a sense of power, giving new perspective). By applying specific suggestions how to use laughter and humor as healthy emotions from a Personal and Professional Perspective it is possible to achieve personal well-being and healthiness.

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In the psychological literature little has been written about the use of humor in therapy. Especially lacking is empirical data regarding the topic. In the current study I investigated the relationship between a personality characteristic, sense of humor, and the amount of humor used by a therapist in a mock therapy session. A 2 x 3 factorial design was implemented with participant's sense of humor and the amount of humor used by the therapist being the independent variables. I hypothesized that a moderate amount of humor would result in more positive ratings of the therapist than either the low or high humor conditions. I also hypothesized that participants who had a greater sense of humor would rate the therapist more positively. Results revealed a partial confirmation of the hypotheses. The greatest amount of humor used by the therapist resulted in decreased ratings of the therapist for a measure of appropriateness of humor and a measure of warmth and empathy. Also, the therapist who used the most humor was rated significantly less rigid and dull than the therapist who used no humor. Suggestions forfuture research in the area are given. / Department of Psychological Science