The aim was to examine whether measurements of creativity as a domain general trait can explain possible connections between a domain general creative performance and one of the creative domain specific areas, humor. Another aim was to examine whether the maladaptive humor styles can explain possible differences in creative performances. An Internet-based survey was used on 281 students from a Swedish university. The survey was composed of three parts consisting of three separate measuring instruments – Sense of Humor Questionnaire (SHQ-6) was used to measure the respondents’ sense of humor, Humor Style Questionnaire (HSQ) measured the respondents’ humor style and Alternate Uses Test (AUT) gave the respondents an opportunity to account for their creative performances. The results showed no significant correlations between the respondents’ sense of humor and their creative performances. Neither could the maladaptive humor styles explain any significant differences in creative performances. However it was found that a low degree of self-defeating humor style had a significant interaction effect on differences in elaboration between low and high degrees of aggressive humor style.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: At the start of the twentieth century Afrikaans humour was researched quite intensively. Since then, however, such research has been relatively sporadic and has concentrated on related sub-genres of humour, such as satire, irony and wit. This dissertation investigates anew the phenomenon of humour as manifested in Afrikaans short story texts, from the dual starting points of a current context and of the extensive theoretical studies done by other researchers worldwide. In the process, humour is viewed as a communicative strategy, a combination of codes which writers utilize within a specific socio-political context in order to create humorous effects and elicit resultant reactions from readers. One of the primary aims of this investigation into the codes and strategies employed by Afrikaans writers in the humorous short story genre, is to determine whether they coincide with universal tendencies or whether they have certain unique features. After a broad exposition of the historical background and of the evolution of the continually changing concept humour, attention is paid to theories regarding its nature and effect. The creative interaction between related modi, like comedy, satire, irony, wit, burlesque, travesty, parody, caricature, grotesque, absurd and black humour and their contribution to one's experience of humour are all researched. Initially, the Afrikaans humour-tradition is set against its historical background. Following this, a more detailed investigation considers strategies of humour selected from Afrikaans short story texts from 1884 to 2001. These are selected for their variety of types of humour and according to criteria relating to structure, style and convention. The major emphasis is placed on short stories of the past two decades, in an attempt to measure the era-relatedness of humour and the interaction with the prevailing socio-political context. These various stylistic strategies are contextualized in writers' deliberate attempts to create a humorous outcome. Along with generally universal characteristics - like the interaction of humorous and non-humorous texts, with time-bound trends (in common with other literatures) - it is concluded that the Afrikaans humorous short story is strongly ancho.ed both in relevance and contextuality. Humour remains a vibrant aspect of the Afrikaans short story and, by keeping this tradition alive, it also remains popular with the reading public. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Nadat daar aan die begin van die twintigste eeu betreklik intensiewe navorsing oor humor in Afrikaans gepubliseer is, het sedertdien slegs sporadiese studies verskyn oor verwante humormodi soos satire, ironie en geestigheid. Hierdie proefskrif wil gevolglik vanuit 'n huidige konteks, en na aanleiding van die uitgebreide teoretisering en navorsing elders ter wêreld, die verskynsel humor opnuut ondersoek, soos gemanifesteer in Afrikaanse kortverhaaltekste. Humor word in die proses benader as 'n kommunikatiewe strategie, 'n versameling kodes wat skrywers binne 'n bepaalde sosio-politieke konteks aanwend, met die oogmerk om humoristiese effekte te bewerkstellig en bepaalde reaksies by lesers uit te lok. Dié studie wil veral vasstel watter kodes en strategieë Afrikaanse humoristiese kortverhaalskrywers hierby gebruik, of dit ooreenstem met breë tendense elders of eie is aan Afrikaans. Na 'n oorsigtelike uiteensetting van die historiese grondslae en die evolusie van die steeds veranderende begrip humor, word aandag bestee aan teorieë oor die aard en effek daarvan. Die vrugbare interaksie tussen verwante modi soos die komedie, satire, ironie, geestigheid, die burleske, travestie, parodie, karikatuur, die groteske, die absurde en swart humor, asook die bydrae daarvan tot die humorbelewing, word vervolgens ondersoek. Die Afrikaanse humortradisie word eers oorsigtelik histories nagespeur, waarna nadere ondersoek ingestel word na humorstrategieë aan die hand van Afrikaanse kortverhaaltekste wat dateer van 1884 tot 2001, geselekteer op grond van sowel verskeidenheid met betrekking tot die tipe humor as kriteria soos struktuur, styl en konvensie. Die klem val op kortverhale uit die afgelope twee dekades, ten einde aspekte soos die tydgebondenheid van humor en die interaksie met die heersende sosiopolitieke konteks te probeer bepaal. Die verskillende stylstrategieë wat geïdentifiseer is, word in verband gebring met die skrywers se berekende opset om 'n humoristiese uitkoms te bewerkstellig. Naas meer universele kenmerke, soos die wisselwerking tussen humor en erns in dié tipe tekste en tydspesifieke neigings (in ooreenstemming met ander letterkundes), soos die toename in groteske en absurde tipe verhale, word bevind dat die Afrikaanse humor- en humoristiese verhaal sterk kontekstueel veranker is. Humor in die Afrikaanse kortverhaal word steeds op 'n lewenskragtige wyse beoefen deur skrywers en bly gewild by lesers.

The theoretical part of the thesis mainly deals with the definitions of sense of humor, humor, stress, life events and life satisfaction and presents an overview of the most basic theories related to these topics at the same time. The aim of the work is looking for connection between the three themes. Above all, it shows the positive impact of sense of humor to cope with stress and life events. What role play a sense of humor in psychotherapy? Can psychotherapy help to improve life satisfaction? As this work was created behind the ongoing systemic psychotherapy, corresponds to the mentioned questions also. The research seeks to establish relationships between sense of humor and life satisfaction and consequently their impact on coping stress and life events. The empirical part is based on quantitative data processing, which were obtained by using several questionnaire. The results of quantitative data analysis are supplemented by qualitative observations and insights that explain conclusions of study. Based on the processed data has shown that life satisfaction increases clients during psychotherapy. However the relationship between sense of humor and life satisfaction, as well as their impact on coping stress and life events has not been empirically confirmed. Keywords: humour, sense of humour,...

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-05T18:23:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 21 / Bolsa para curso e programa de Pós Graduação / O tema deste estudo trata da linguagem do humor gráfico dentro do semanário de humor português Chaimite. O humor gráfico é entendido como fenômeno de comunicação e de expressão gráficodiscursiva,dentro do gênero jornalístico da chamada imprensa alternativa dos anos setenta. É investigado como linguagem e como narrativa de uma circunstância e de um contexto especifico, que compreendeu a experiência dialógica entre duas culturas, no caso Portugal e Brasil. A pesquisa aborda os ambientes da imprensa alternativa nesses dois países, para então definir o humor gráfico, em suas especificidades, e projetá-lo no mundo da verificação analítica e interpretativa, buscando as marcas que sustentaram a resignificação do seu discurso de característica brasileira e sua inserção cultural no deslocamento para Portugal. O semanário de humor Chaimite, objeto desse estudo, foi criado pelo escritor e jornalista gaúcho Josué Guimarães, em 1976, em Portugal. Nele o humor gráfico foi amplamente explorado como ferramenta que artic / The theme of this study is about the language of graphic humour in a Portuguese weekly of humour, named Chaimite. Graphic humour is apprehended as a graphic-discoursive phenomenon of communication and expression within the journalistic style of the alternative press of the 70’s. It is also investigated as language and narrative of a specific circumstance and context that comprehended the dialogic experience between two cultures – Portuguese and Brazilian. The research approaches the environment of that alternative press in both coumtries and then defines graphic humour in its particularity and subjects it to analysis and interpretation, seeking the traces that supported the resignification of its discourse, which has Brazilian characteristics, and that supported as well its cultural placement in a Portuguese environment. The weekly of humour Chaimite, object of this study, was created by the South Brazilian writer and journalist Josué Guimarães in 1976 in Portugal. In this weekly, graphic humour was widely

Thesis (docteur ès lettres)--Faculté de lettres et sciences humaines de l'Université de Neuchâtel. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 297-321).

Thesis (docteur ès lettres)--Faculté de lettres et sciences humaines de l'Université de Neuchâtel. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 297-321).

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As an emotional appeal to reach the target audience, humor is a creative tool that uses laughter and entertainment to disarm the cynical viewer to deliver the advertising pitch. In this manner, a funny advertisement would capture audience attention and would have a greater chance of increasing the recall of the brand and the general marketing message. The presence of humor in advertisements spices up the content; thus, making it more interesting and amusing. However, due to the influence of culture to both individual and collective tastes in humor, the universality of humor may not apply to advertising, particularly to international advertising campaigns, at all times. Cultural differences challenge local and international campaigns to understand what the audience would understand, appreciate and buy in the long run. Adapting the Berger’s humor categories (1993), this thesis identified the prevalent humor categories in American and Filipino advertisements from January 2001 to March 2008 through content analysis. Although some categories are similarly prevalent in both samples, they are used portrayed in different ways. The various uses of these humor techniques are noticeable based on subtlety, physicality, intentions, nature and implied and latent definitions. Also, some humor techniques were combined with others to send the marketing message across effectively. This required the understanding of the overall picture and interaction of audio and visual elements in the advertisement. Therefore, this revealed that even both American and Filipino humor are characterized by their obvious, physical and sometimes vulgar expressions, there are still some differences between the two. American humor has a blunt, straightforward nature, whereas Filipino humor is subtle, conservative and visually goofy. Inferential statistics, on the other hand, revealed that only a few humor categories (four in the audio element, 1 in the visual element), showed the significant difference between American and Filipino advertisements. To further see the meaning beneath the similarities and differences between the funny American and Filipino advertisements, this thesis provided a textual analysis of the prevalent humor categories that appeared in the content analysis. The humor categories both reflect and challenge the cultural values of both countries. What is present in the society could be seen in the humor content of the advertisements, which may be a validation of the mirroring function of advertising. However, poking fun at the cultural value system in the United States and the Philippines gives them a taste of freedom and a feeling of relief from rules and constraints.

Bakgrunden till denna studie är att skoldebatten är het och vikten av att ha bra lärare nämns ofta. Hur är då en bra lärare? Studiens syfte är att få kunskap om hur en bra lärare är enligt gymnasieelever och se om elevernas svar överensstämmer med vad tidigare forskning säger. Jag ville även se om det fanns några större skillnader i svar mellan elever i ettan jämfört med de som går i trean. Metoden för undersökningen var kvalitativ i form av enskilda intervjuer med 22 elever på studieförberedande program. Svaren jag fick blev till åtta teman: Lyssna på eleverna, den roliga och sociala läraren, förklara, hjälpa, ämneskunskap och engagemang, variation, motivation samt lärarens ledarskap. Resultatet stämde väl överens på många punkter med forskning jag jämfört med; såväl Hattie (2009) som Nordenbo mfl. (2008) även om jag också fann en del skillnader. Främsta skillnaden jag fann handlade om att läraren ska ha humor och vara social enligt min undersökning medan forskning jag studerat inte lyft fram det.

Humor-evoking events frequently contain aggressive elements. Sex differences have been found for the effects of aggressive content on perceived funniness, (Wilson & Molleston, 1981; Terry & Ertle, 1974; Groch, 1974; Felker & Hunter, 1970) but the findings are not consistent. Sexism is sometimes perceived as a more subtle form of aggression. Sex differences have also been found for the way sexism affects funniness ratings, (Chapman & Gadfield, 1976; Priest & Wilhelm, 1974) but again the findings are inconsistent. The primary purpose of the present study was to determine the relationship between the ratings of sexism and the ratings of funniness for cartoons. A secondary purpose of the present study was to determine to what extent, if any, gender of experimenter influences humor, sex, sexism, and pain ratings.Subjects were 60 female and 58 male introductory Psychology students. There were four experimental groups: two groups of female and two groups of male subjects. A female experimenter was assigned to one male and one female group, and a male experimenter was assigned to one male and one female group. This design facilitated exploration of an experimenter gender x subject gender interaction. Subjects were shown 34 cartoons and asked to rate each for funniness, and then to rate them for the degree of sexual, sexist, and aggressive (pain) content each contained.A preliminary analysis revealed that there were significant relationships between gender of experimenter and funniness ratings, gender of subject and funniness ratings, as well as a gender of experimenter x gender of subject interaction.A step-down multiple regression was performed among the predictor variables experimenter gender and subject gender, with the criterion of funniness, for each of the four experimental conditions. For female subjects, only sexism scores correlated with funniness scores, and the contributions of sex and pain ratings were not significant. For male subjects, only sex scores correlated with funniness scores, and the contributions of sexism and pain ratings were not significant. Comparisons between these results and past research were made.