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Year: 1990

A personality-based model of humor development during adulthood

McGhee, Paul E ; Ruch, Willibald ; Hehl, Franz-Josef

Abstract: Thepresent article advances a model of humor development extending from late adolescenceuntil about age 60. Previously advanced models of humor development during the preadolescent yearsare reviewed, and issues related to the proposal of models of adult humor development are discussed.The developmental model presented here drawsfrom a series of factor-analytic studies which documentthe importance of two principal humor-appreciation factors (nonsense and incongruity plus resolution),andfrom a broad ränge of data demonstrating age-related changes in personality measures closely associ-ated with these two factors. Separate attention is given by the model to positive (funniness) and negative(aversiveness) aspects ofreactions to cartoons andjokes.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/humr.1990.3.2.119

Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of ZurichZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-78070Journal ArticlePublished Version

Originally published at:McGhee, Paul E; Ruch, Willibald; Hehl, Franz-Josef (1990). A personality-based model of humor devel-opment during adulthood. HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research, 3(2):119-146.DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/humr.1990.3.2.119