This study aimed to test how sense of humor is dependent on the complex and dynamic interactions between the emotional (temperament) and sociocognitive (character) components of personality. Specifically, we examined the relationship of temperament and/or character profiles to overall humor potential and comic style. In total, 665 adults responded to Cloninger’s Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and the Comic Style Markers. Temperament profiles were associated with overall humor potential but not comic styles. People with positive development of all three character traits had the highest levels of fun, benevolent humor, and wit. Sense of humor depended on integrated profiles of both temperament and character. We conclude that temperament energizes overall humor potential while character shapes the comic styles. This study advances research by directing focus to the causal within-person psychobiological processes that underlie sense of humor.
AllportG. W. (1931). What is a trait of personality?The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 25(4), 368–372. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0075406
2.
AllportG. W. (1961). Pattern and growth in personality. Holt, Reinhart & Winston.
3.
Benet-MartínezV.DonnellanM. B.FleesonW.FraleyR. C.GoslingS. D.KingL. A.FunderD. C. (2015). Six visions for the future of personality psychology. In MikulincerM.ShaverP. R.CooperM. L.LarsenR. J. (Eds.), APA handbook of personality and social psychology, Vol. 4. Personality processes and individual differences (pp. 665–689). American Psychological Association.
ChanD. (2009). So why ask me? Are self-report data really that bad? In LanceC. E.VandenbergR. J. (Eds.), Statistical and methodological myths and urban legends: Doctrine, verity and fable in the organizational and social sciences (pp. 309–336). Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.
6.
CloningerC. R. (1987). A systematic method for clinical description and classification of personality variants. Archives of General Psychiatry, 44, 573–588.
7.
CloningerC. R. (1994). Temperament and personality. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 4(2), 266–273.
8.
CloningerC. R. (1999). The Temperament and Character Inventory–Revised. Center for Psychobiology of Personality, Washington University.
9.
CloningerC. R. (2003). Completing the psychobiological architecture of human personality development: Temperament, character, and coherence. In StaudingerU. M.LindenbergerU. (Eds.), Understanding human development (pp. 159–181). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0357-6_8
10.
CloningerC. R. (2004). Feeling good: The science of well-being. Oxford University Press.
11.
CloningerC. R. (2009). Evolution of human brain functions: The functional structure of human consciousness. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 43, 994–1006.
12.
CloningerC. R.CloningerK. M.ZwirI.Keltikangas-JärvinenL. (2019). The complex genetics and biology of human temperament: A review of traditional concepts in relation to new molecular findings. Translational Psychiatry, 9, Article 290. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-019-0621-4
13.
CloningerC. R.SvrakicD. M.PrzybeckT. R. (1993). A psychobiological model of temperament and character. Archives of General Psychiatry, 50(12), 975–990.
14.
CloningerC. R.SvrakicN. M.SvrakicD. M. (1997). Role of personality self-organization in development of mental order and disorder. Development and Psychopathology, 9(4), 881–906. https://doi.org/10.1017/s095457949700148x
15.
CloningerC. R.ZoharA. H. (2011). Personality and the perception of health and happiness. Journal of Affective Disorders, 128(1–2), 24–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2010.06.012
16.
CostaP. T.McCraeR. R. (1992). NEO PI-R: Professional manual: Revised NEO PI-R and NEO-FFI. Psychological Assessment Resources.
17.
DionigiA.DuradoniM.VagnoliL. (2021). Humor and personality: Psychometric properties of the Italian version of the comic styles markers and its relationships with the big five personality traits. Current Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-01303-0
18.
EdwardsK. R.MartinR. A. (2014). The conceptualization, measurement, and role of humor as a character strength in positive psychology. Europe’s Journal of Psychology, 10(3), 505–519.
19.
EnikolopovS. N.MitinaO. V.IvanovaA. N. (2014). Sense of humor disorders in patients with schizophrenia and affective disorders. Psychology in Russia, 1, 146–157. https://doi.org/10.11621/pir.2014.0114
20.
EysenckH. J.EysenckM. W. (1985). Personality and individual differences: A natural science perspective. Plenum.
21.
FergusonC. J. (2009). An effect size primer: A guide for clinicians and researchers. Professional Psychology, 40(5), 532–538. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015808
22.
FreudS. (1928). Humour. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 9, 1–6.
23.
GardiniS.CloningerC. R.VenneriA. (2009). Individual differences in personality traits reflect structural variance in specific brain regions. Brain Research Bulletin, 79(5), 265–270. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainresbull.2009.03.005
24.
GusnardD. A.OllingerJ. M.ShulmanG. L.Robert CloningerC.PriceJ. L.Van EssenD. C.RaichleM. E. (2003). Persistence and brain circuitry. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 100(6), 3479–3484. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0538050100
25.
HehlF. J.RuchW. (1985). The location of sense of humor within comprehensive personality spaces: An exploratory study. Personality and Individual Differences, 6(6), 703–715. https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(85)90081-9
26.
HeintzS.RuchW. (2019). From four to nine styles: An update on individual differences in humor. Personality and Individual Differences, 141, 7–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.12.008
27.
JosefssonK.JokelaM.CloningerC. R.HintsanenM.SaloJ.HintsaT.Pulkki-RabackL.Keltikangas-JärvinenL (2013). Maturity and change in personality: Developmental trends of temperament and character in adulthood. Development and Psychopathology, 25(3), 713–727. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579413000126
28.
KuiperN. A.MartinR. A. (1998). Is sense of humor a positive personality characteristic? In RuchW. (Ed.), The sense of humor: Explorations of a personality characteristic (pp. 159–178). Walter de Gruyter & Co.
29.
MarshH. W.LüdtkeO.TrautweinU.MorinA. J. S. (2009). Classical latent profile analysis of academic self-concept dimensions: Synergy of person- and variable-centered approaches to theoretical models of self-concept. Structural Equation Modeling, 16(2), 191–225. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705510902751010
30.
MartinR. A. (1998). Approaches to the sense of humor: A historical review. In RuchW. (Ed.), The sense of humor: Explorations of a personality characteristic (pp. 15–62). De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110804607
31.
MartinR. A.Puhlik-DorisP.LarsenG.GrayJ.WeirK. (2003). Individual differences in uses of humor and their relation to psychological well-being: Development of the Humor Styles Questionnaire. Journal of Research in Personality, 37, 48–75.
32.
MaslowA. H. (1954). Motivation and personality. Harper & Row.
33.
Mendiburo-SeguelA.HeintzS. (2019). Comic styles and their relation to the sense of humor, humor appreciation, acceptability of prejudice, humorous self-image and happiness. Humor, 33(3), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1515/humor-2018-0151
34.
Mendiburo-SeguelA.PáezD.Martínez-SánchezF. (2015). Humor styles and personality: A meta-analysis of the relation between humor styles and the Big Five personality traits. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 56(3), 335–340. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjop.12209
35.
MischelW.ShodaY. (1995). A Cognitive-Affective System Theory of Personality: Reconceptualizing Situations, Dispositions, Dynamics, and Invariance in Personality Structure. Psychological Review, 102(2), 246–268. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.102.2.246
36.
MoreiraP. A. S.CloningerC. R.RochaM. J.OliveiraJ. T.FerreiraN.GonçalvesD. M.RózsaS. (2017). The psychometrics of the European Portuguese version of the Temperament and Character Inventory–Revised. Psychological Reports, 120(6), 1178–1199. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033294117711914
37.
MoreiraP. A. S.InmanR. A. (2021). Psychometric properties of the Comic Style Markers–Portuguese version: Applying bifactor and hierarchical approaches to studying broad versus narrow styles of humor. Humor. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1515/humor-2021-0039
38.
MoreiraP. A. S.InmanR. A.CloningerC. R. (2020). Personality networks and emotional and behavioral problems: Integrating temperament and character using latent profile and latent class analyses. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 52, 856–868. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-020-01063-9
39.
MoreiraP. A. S.InmanR. A.CloningerC. R. (2021a). Reactance and personality: Assessing psychological reactance using a biopsychosocial and person-centered approach. Current Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-01310-1
40.
MoreiraP. A. S.InmanR. A.CloningerC. R. (2021b). Virtues in action are related to the integration of both temperament and character: Comparing the VIA Classification of Virtues and Cloninger’s Biopsychosocial Model of Personality. The Journal of Positive Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2021.1975158
41.
PetersonC.SeligmanM. E. P. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. Oxford University Press.
PlessenC. Y.FrankenF. R.SterC.SchmidR. R.WolfmayrC.MayerA. -M.SobischM.KathoferM.RattnerK.KotlyarE.MaierwieserR. J.TranU. S. (2020). Humor styles and personality: A systematic review and meta-analysis on the relations between humor styles and the Big Five personality traits. Personality and Individual Differences, 154, Article 109676. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.109676
44.
PosnerJ.RussellJ. A.PetersonB. S. (2005). The circumplex model of affect: An integrative approach to affective neuroscience, cognitive development, and psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 17(3), 715–734.
45.
R Core Team. (2019). R: A language and environment for statistical computing.
46.
RosenströmT.JokelaM.CloningerC. R.HintsanenM.JuonalaM.RaitakariO.ViikariJ.Keltikangas-JärvinenL. (2012). Associations between dimensional personality measures and preclinical atherosclerosis: The cardiovascular risk in Young Finns study. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 72(5), 336–343. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2012.02.003
47.
RuchW. (2007). Foreword and overview for: The sense of humor: A new look at an old concept. In RuchW. (Ed.), The sense of humor: A new look at an old concept (pp. 3–14). De Gruyter Mouton.
RuchW.HeintzS.PlattT.WagnerL.ProyerR. T. (2018). Broadening humor: Comic styles differentially tap into temperament, character, and ability. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00006
50.
RuchW.WagnerL.HeintzS. (2018). Humor, the PEN model of personality, and subjective well-being: Support for differential relationships with eight comic styles. Rivista Italiana Di Studi Sull’Umorismo RISU, 1(1), 31–44.
StreinerD. L. (2015). Best (but oft-forgotten) practices: The multiple problems of multiplicity-whether and how to correct for many statistical tests. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 102(4), 721–728. https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.115.113548
53.
TeinJ. Y.CoxeS.ChamH. (2013). Statistical power to detect the correct number of classes in latent profile analysis. Structural Equation Modeling, 20(4), 640–657. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705511.2013.824781
54.
WarrenC.BarskyA.McGrawA. P. (2021). What makes things funny? An integrative review of the antecedents of laughter and amusement. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 25(1), 41–65. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868320961909
55.
YikM.RussellJ. A.SteigerJ. H. (2011). A 12-point circumplex structure of core affect. Emotion, 11, 705–731. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023980
56.
ZwirI.ArnedoJ.Del-ValC.Pulkki-RåbackL.KonteB.YangS. S.Romero-ZalizR.HintsanenM.CloningerK. M.GarciaD.SvrakicD. M.RozsaS.MartinezM.LyytikäinenL.-P.GieglingI.KähönenM.Hernandez-CuervoH.SeppäläI.RaitoharjuE.. . . CloningerC. R. (2020a). Uncovering the complex genetics of human character. Molecular Psychiatry, 25, 2295–2312. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-018-0263-6
57.
ZwirI.ArnedoJ.Del-ValC.Pulkki-RåbackL.KonteB.YangS. S.Romero-ZalizR.HintsanenM.CloningerK. M.GarciaD.SvrakicD. M.RozsaS.MartinezM.LyytikäinenL.-P.GieglingI.KähönenM.Hernandez-CuervoH.SeppäläI.RaitoharjuE.CloningerC. R. (2020b). Uncovering the complex genetics of human temperament. Molecular Psychiatry, 25, 2275–2294. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-018-0264-5.
58.
ZwirI.Del-ValC.ArnedoJ.Pulkki-RåbackL.KonteB.YangS. S.Romero-ZalizR.HintsanenM.CloningerK. M.GarciaD.SvrakicD. M.LesterN.RozsaS.MesaA.LyytikäinenL.-P.GieglingI.KähönenM.MartinezM.SeppäläI.CloningerC. R. (2019). Three genetic–environmental networks for human personality. Molecular Psychiatry, 26, 3858–3875. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-019-0579-x
59.
ZwirI.Del-ValC.HintsanenM.CloningerK. M.Romero-ZalizR.MesaA.ArnedoJ.SalasR.PobleteG. F.RaitoharjuE.RaitokariO.Keltikangas-JärvinenL.de ErausquinG. A.TattersallI.LehtimäkiT.CloningerC. R. (2021). Evolution of genetic networks for human creativity. Molecular Psychiatry. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-021-01097-y
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
