Humor : the psychology of living buoyantly

In his earlier work the author has studied stress and the personality characteristics that protect us from its effects on health and well-being. In this new book he places humor firmly within the literatures of coping processes, the moderation of stressful experiences, and health by showing how humor can help create and encourage feelings of community, closeness, and control. Lefcourt blends empirical research with anecdotal reports in this thoughtful volume.

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Books about research, even the most exciting research, tend to be of limited interest. This work suggests a solution to that problem: here is the story of a personal quest, a story that includes the scientific expertise and the subjective reminiscences that really make up the investigator. Psychological factors in health, both physical and mental, are the goal of the research, and Lefcourt (Univ. of Waterloo, Canada) follows a path through studies on self-control to the related topic of humor. Research justifies the hope for serenity, courage, and wisdom; to these--guided by experimental results, literary examples, and real life--Lefcourt adds a fourth element: a sense of humor to laugh at it all, which turns out to be critical. The author presents the studies on "buoyancy" and individual differences (especially male-female), social support, stress, and health with both sophistication and clarity. Though modest to the extreme, Lefcourt has been in the forefront of these investigations. An update of Lefcourt and Rod Martin's Humor and Life Stress: Antidote to Adversity (1986), the present title indicates how much has been accomplished and points the direction for future work. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers; professionals. P. L. Derks emeritus, College of William and Mary

Chapter 1 The Changing Concerns of Psychology	p. 1
My Personal Odyssey	p. 4
Turning Psychology to the Study of Positive Assets	p. 6
The Introduction of Humor into Research on Resilience	p. 11
Chapter 2 Experiencing Humor in Everyday Life	p. 15
An Intuitive Approach to Understanding Humor	p. 20
Can We Truly Understand the Roots of Humor?	p. 25
Conclusion	p. 29
Chapter 3 Early Conceptions of Humor in Religion, Medicine, Philosophy, and Psychology	p. 31
Conclusion	p. 39
Chapter 4 The Pervasiveness of Humor	p. 41
Is Humor Universal in the Human Species?	p. 41
Are Humans Alone in the Use of Humor and Joking?	p. 44
Are There Universals in the Form and Content of Humor?	p. 48
Conclusion	p. 53
Chapter 5 The Many Faces of Humor: Variations in the Types and Definitions of Humor	p. 55
Freud's Contributions to the Literature on Humor	p. 56
Other Dimensions of Humor	p. 61
Cruel and Hostile Humor	p. 64
Humor	p. 72
Chapter 6 The Development of Humor: Accounting for Individual Differences	p. 75
Research with Normative Samples	p. 76
Sources of Individual Differences in Humor	p. 79
Humor as a Coping Tool among Professional Comedians	p. 83
Chapter 7 The Effects of Stress on Emotion and Health	p. 89
Illness and Stress: The Physiological Connections	p. 92
Stress Effects on Appetite and Digestion	p. 95
Stress Effects on Sexual Activity	p. 97
The Inhibition of Growth	p. 97
The Inhibition of Immune System Activity	p. 98
Is There a Way out of the Vicious Circle of Arousal and Deterioration?	p. 99
Humor as a Moderator of Stress	p. 101
Study 1	p. 101
The Results	p. 103
Study 2	p. 104
The Results	p. 106
Study 3	p. 106
The Results	p. 107
What May We Conclude from These Data?	p. 107
Chapter 8 Humor as a Coping Strategy	p. 109
Humor as a Moderator of Stressful Experiences: An Update	p. 113
Chapter 9 Humor as a Means of Retaining Social Cohesion and Support	p. 127
Membership in Social Groups	p. 128
Social Support as a Moderator of Stressful Life Experiences	p. 131
Humor as an Enhancer of Social Belonging	p. 133
Chapter 10 Sense of Humor and Physiological Stress Responses	p. 141
Humor and Autonomic Nervous System Activity	p. 141
Humor and Immune System Activity	p. 146
Conclusions	p. 150
Chapter 11 Sex and Humor: Interactive Predictors of Health?	p. 151
Possible Sources of Sex Differences in Humor Usage	p. 157
Conclusion	p. 160
Chapter 12 Summing Up	p. 165
Appendixes
A. The Coping Humor Scale (CHS)	p. 173
Guide for Scoring of the CHS	p. 174
B. The Situational Humor Response Questionnaire (SHRQ)	p. 175
C. Bibliography of Research with CHS and SHRQ	p. 179
References	p. 183
Author Index	p. 199
Subject Index	p. 205

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