Personality Approaches: Beyond the ‘Sense of Humor’

This chapter deals with personality approaches to humor, and specifically the variety of definitions, models, and studies on the sense of humor. Individual differences in humor are important for our social interactions, our emotions and our health. Hence, it is paramount to explore the different dimensions and styles of humor, their relationships with other personality traits as well as the effectiveness of humor interventions. Research has also explored social influences on the sense of humor, how humor can be adequately measured, and relationships of the sense of humor with wellbeing, though these require further scrutiny. Personality approaches can be integrated into many interdisciplinary approaches to yield a more holistic and comprehensive understanding of how our sense of humor shapes our daily lives.