Cultural Differences in Humor Perception, Usage, and Implications

Abstract

Humor is a universal phenomenon but is also culturally tinted. In this article, we reviewed the existing research that investigates how culture impacts individuals’ humor perception and usage as well as humor’s implications for psychological well-being. Previous research has substantiated evidence that Easterners do not hold as positive an attitude toward humor as their Western counterparts do. This perception makes Easterners less likely to use humor as a coping strategy in comparison with Westerners. Despite this difference, Westerners and Easterners have similar patterns in the relationship between their humor and psychological well-being index, though the strength of the relationship varies across cultures. Implications and potential future research avenues discussed.

Higher levels of stress and different coping strategies are associated with greater morning and evening fatigue severity in oncology patients receiving chemotherapy

“…While using humor as a coping strategy was associated with decreased stress in women with breast cancer [51], it was not associated with decreased fatigue severity [49]. In general, humor is a personal experience, used in different ways and situations based on culture and gender [52]. Therefore, it is possible that the patients' personalities in the Very High evening fatigue class may have influenced their use of humor.…”

Does the Relation Between Humor Styles and Subjective Well-Being Vary Across Culture and Age? A Meta-Analysis

“…Given that humor is not an ideal Chinese personality trait, Chinese people tend to believe humor should be left to specialists (e.g., entertainers, comedians) rather than just anyone (Yue et al, 2016a ). Similarly, Jiang et al ( 2019 ) argued that due to dialectic thinking style, Chinese people tend to show contradictory attitudes toward humor that are simultaneously positive and negative. Taken together, such ambivalent belief may lead to mixed findings on a humor effect among Chinese (Sun et al, 2009 ; Jiang et al, 2011 ; Yue et al, 2017 ), which in turn weakens the moderating role of culture on the relation between humor and SWB.…”

Time to Renovate the Humor Styles Questionnaire? An Item Response Theory Analysis of the HSQ

“…First, our conclusions apply only to the English form of the HSQ. This scale has been widely translated into dozens of languages [ 6 , 8 ], often with noteworthy changes to the response scale and item wording to reflect distinct cultural inflections in the meanings and uses of humor [ 50 ]. Each translated form of the scale deserves its own separate analysis.…”