Humor Style Questionnaire – Chinese Version

Description

The term “humor” in Chinese originated over two thousand years ago, first appearing in Qu Yuan’s “Chuci: Jiu Zhang: Huai Sha,” where it means “silent and quiet.” In the early 1920s, Mr. Lin Yutang translated “humor” as the Chinese equivalent of the Western term, giving it new connotations. Since then, humor has started to take on a modern meaning and has been recognized, accepted, and disseminated among the Chinese people. The physiological level of humor theory mainly explores how humor stimuli provoke physiological excitement, and how this excitement triggers a pleasant feeling. The psychological level theories mainly explore the motivational system of humor, where individuals express and feel a sense of superiority, release tensions, or aggression in a socially permissible manner through humor. The cognitive level theories investigate the process through which individuals move from a state of dissonance in humor stimuli to understanding and resolution. Traditionally, humor has often been viewed as positive and beneficial; however, empirical examples supporting this assertion are quite limited, inconsistent, and not thoroughly scrutinized. Recent studies have begun to recognize that humor should be used appropriately, as not all humor is beneficial for mental and physical health. Over-holser suggests that excessive use of humor can actually be harmful and should be used cautiously and selectively to achieve positive effects. As Robinson points out, “the healthiness of hostility and negative reality in sarcasm, ridicule, dark humor, and sick jokes is indeed questionable.” Consequently, considerations should be made to further classify humor and explore the differing effects of various types of humor. Martin and others suggest that future research in this area should distinguish between potentially beneficial and harmful uses of humor, rather than assuming that all humor is beneficial for mental and physical health.

Authors and Contact Email

Information not available.

Purpose

The study aims to explore the relationship between humor styles and mental health among university students.

Test Year

Information not available.

Administration Method and Scoring

The Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ) consists of 32 questions divided into four subscales, each assessing different humor styles. Participants respond to statements on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (完全不同意 – Completely Disagree) to 7 (完全同意 – Completely Agree).

Reliability and Validity

Information not available.

Factors and Subscales

The humor styles are divided into four subscales:
– 亲和型幽默 (Affiliative Humor): Humor used to enhance group cohesion, being tolerant and acceptable while joking with others to entertain them.
– 自强型幽默 (Self-enhancing Humor): A tendency to maintain a humorous perspective on life and use humor as a coping strategy.
– 嘲讽型幽默 (Aggressive Humor): Humor used to criticize or manipulate others, or to express humor without regard for the feelings of others.
– 自贬型幽默 (Self-defeating Humor): A tendency to excessively use self-deprecating humor, pleasing others, and defensive denial of negative emotions.

Keywords

Humor styles, mental health, university students, psychological effects, coping strategies.

Items in Chinese

1、我一般不太爱发笑，或者和其它人一起开玩笑。
2、我觉得情绪低落的时候，通常能够用幽默来振奋自己。
3、如果某个人有毛病或者缺点，我经常会取笑他。
4、我过份地让其它人嘲笑或取笑我为乐。
5、我一般不爱讲笑话或逗别人开心。
6、如果我感到难过或不高兴，我通常会尽力去想一些与时此景相关的趣事来使我自己感觉好一点。
7、有时候我想到一些实在太有趣的事，即使当时可能会伤害在场的某些人或者引起他们的反感，我也会情不自禁地说出来。
8、如果这样做可以使我的家人或朋友发笑，我会经常失去理智的贬低自己。
9、和别人相处的时候，我经常想不到有什么机智或诙谐的话可以拿来应对。
10、当我独自一人并且感到不愉快的时候，我会尽力去想一些趣事来振奋自己。
11、如果我不喜欢某一个人，我经常会当面揶揄、嘲笑和贬低他。
12、在开玩笑或尽力使自己表现得比较诙谐的时候我经常过份的贬低自己。
13、我很少通过讲述各种各样的奇闻趣事来让别人发笑。
14、每当郁闷的时候，我喜欢回忆过去一些幽默有趣的事情来愉悦和振奋自己。
15、如果某个人把事情搞砸了，我经常会讥笑他。
16、我和朋友（或家人）在一起的时候，似乎经常成为别人取笑或开玩笑的对象。
17、我经常和朋友开玩笑取乐。
18、我的幽默人生观使得我不会对生活感到过度不安或者丧失信心。
19、我常为搞笑而捉弄别人。
20、我经常通过讲一些有关我自己的弱点、过失或过错的趣事来使别人更加喜欢我或接受我。
21、通常我讲有关自己的趣事时，别人很少发笑。
22、假如我不喜欢某一个人，我经常会在他背后嘲笑和贬低他。
23、逗人开心是我很自然的与别人交往的方式。
24、我经常讽刺和讥笑那些能力或地位比我差的人。
25、不必费太大劲就可以让别人笑起来————看来我是一个天生的富有幽默感的人。

Items in English

1. I generally do not laugh much or joke around with others.
2. I find that when I am feeling down, I can usually uplift myself with humor.
3. If someone has a flaw or deficiency, I often make fun of them.
4. I excessively allow others to ridicule or make fun of me for their enjoyment.
5. I typically do not enjoy telling jokes or making others happy.
6. If I feel sad or unhappy, I usually try to think of amusing events related to the situation to feel better.
7. Sometimes I think of something so funny that, even if it might hurt some people present or cause them to feel uncomfortable, I can’t help but say it.
8. If doing so can make my family or friends laugh, I often lose my senses and belittle myself.
9. When interacting with others, I often can’t think of any witty or humorous remarks to respond with.
10. When I am alone and feeling unpleasant, I try to think of funny events to uplift myself.
11. If I dislike someone, I often tease, ridicule, and belittle them to their face.
12. When joking or trying to present myself as humorous, I often excessively belittle myself.
13. I seldom make others laugh by sharing various amusing stories.
14. Whenever I feel depressed, I like to recall past humorous events to bring joy and uplift myself.
15. If someone messes up, I often mock them.
16. When I’m with friends (or family), I often seem to become the target of their jokes or ridicule.
17. I often joke with my friends for fun.
18. My humorous outlook on life prevents me from feeling overly anxious or losing confidence in life.
19. I often tease others for the sake of humor.
20. I often make people like me or accept me more by sharing amusing stories about my own weaknesses, mistakes, or faults.
21. Usually, when I share funny stories about myself, others rarely laugh.
22. If I dislike someone, I often mock and belittle them behind their back.
23. Making others happy is a very natural way for me to interact with others.
24. I often ridicule and mock those who are less capable or of lower status than I.
25. I can easily make others laugh— it seems I am a naturally funny person.

References

陈国海,Rod A.Martin.大学生幽默风格与精神健康关系的初步研究[J].心理科学,2007(01):219-223.DOI:10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.2007.01.057.
郝霞. 大学生幽默风格、气质性乐观与心理健康关系研究[D].内蒙古师范大学,2008.