Humor and Personality: Temperament and Character Have Different Roles

Abstract

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.

Disentangling the personality pathways to well-being

“…Such temperament configurations include the ‘reliable’ profile (defined by high persistence and reward dependence, and low novelty seeking and harm avoidance), the ‘sensitive’ profile (high harm avoidance, reward dependence, and novelty seeking), and the ‘antisocial’ profile (high novelty seeking, low reward dependence and persistence) 22 . Similar latent profiles have been identified in independent samples 46 , 47 .…”

“…Other studies have used artificial classification methods to cluster participants into the eight possible configurations of high and low values for the three character traits 26 , 28 , 49 , 50 . Research using latent profile analysis to identify naturally occurring characters has also identified these eight theoretical configurations 47 .…”

“…The first of these personality networks, the emotional-unreliable network, is strongly associated with a genotypic network for emotion regulation and social attachment (associative conditioning), and individuals classified in this network are typically emotionally reactive with weak capacity for rational self-government. Studies have shown this network is primarily comprised of people with apathetic or dependent character (low in self-directedness and cooperativeness) associated with sensitive or antisocial temperaments (high novelty seeking, low in persistence) 25 , 47 , 55 . The second personality network, the organized-reliable network, is strongly associated with genes for the regulation of intentional goal-setting (intentionality).…”

“…People in this network are capable of resourceful productivity but are conventional, materialistic and practical, and not always compassionate or empathetic. Studies have found this network is mostly comprised of people with a reliable temperament associated with characters that are high in self-directedness and/or in cooperativeness 25 , 47 , 55 . Finally, the creative-reliable network is strongly associated with genes for episodic learning and autobiographic memory that allow for intuitive insight and creative imagination in the appraisal of values and theories (self-awareness).…”

Perceived related humor in the classroom, student–teacher relationship quality, and engagement: Individual differences in sense of humor among students

“…First, universities need to train teachers in managing classes, including the ability to create a pleasant atmosphere through humor appropriate to the context of the material. Second, because humor behavior is closely related to personality [ 11 , 47 , 48 ], higher education administrators, especially human resources management personnel, must be more stringent in selecting prospective instructors by considering andragogic competence and communication. Finally, considering that the effectiveness of learning through the instructor's humor behavior is dependent on the recipients—namely, the sense of humor of students—we suggest that instructors study the classroom atmosphere at the beginning of the semester.…”