Positive emotions elicited by clowns and nurses: An experimental study in a hospital setting.

Auerbach, Sarah; Ruch, Willibald; Fehling, Annette

doi:10.1037/tps0000055

Cited by 14 publications

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“…Hospital clown interventions apparently elicit feelings that go beyond the typical humor response, such as feelings of connection, liberation, appreciation or playfulness. In this sense, the present research validates studies using self-report measures ( Auerbach et al, 2014 , 2016 ), and strengthens the widespread assumption of practitioners and clown organizations (see Dionigi et al, 2012 ) that on average hospital clown interventions successfully create positive experiences and emotions for patients in need of care.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

“…Participants rate their current state on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (=not at all) to 7 (=very strongly). As the sample size in the present study is too small to test the hypotheses with all single ratings, factor scores were used instead (transcendence, uneasiness, amusement, and arousal; the procedure is described in detail in Auerbach et al, 2016 ), which are sensitive enough to capture changes in clown-induced emotional states ( Auerbach et al, 2014 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Hospital Study Evaluation Form (HSEF; Auerbach et al, 2016 ) contains 22 single ratings, of which seven ratings concern the stay in the care facility (HSEF-General; e.g., quality of meals, care) and the evaluation of the hospital clown intervention (HSEF-Current; e.g., global positive and negative feelings during the situation). The answer format is a 7-point Likert scale.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ratings of the factor of arousal relate to different states of arousal, in which positive loadings (touched and speechless) refer to a calm state, that is, low arousal, whereas negative loadings (overexcited and schadenfreude ) refer to a more heightened arousal. Studies that used the CLEM-29 showed that individuals watching videos of ( Auerbach et al, 2014 ) and patients interacting with ( Auerbach et al, 2016 ) a hospital clown reported a higher level of amusement compared to individuals who watched or experienced a nurse intervention. Furthermore, in both samples a combination of amusement and transcendence best predicted the total amount of positive affect after a hospital clown intervention.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Are Clowns Good for Everyone? The Influence of Trait Cheerfulness on Emotional Reactions to a Hospital Clown Intervention

Auerbach

2017

Front. Psychol.

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Trait cheerfulness predicts individual differences in experiences and behavioral responses in various humor experiments and settings. The present study is the first to investigate whether trait cheerfulness also influences the impact of a hospital clown intervention on the emotional state of patients. Forty-two adults received a clown visit in a rehabilitation center and rated their emotional state and trait cheerfulness afterward. Facial expressions of patients during the clown visit were coded with the Facial Action Coding System. Looking at the total sample, the hospital clown intervention elicited more frequent facial expressions of genuine enjoyment (Duchenne smiles) than other smiles (Non-Duchenne smiles), and more Duchenne smiles went along with more perceived funniness, a higher level of global positive feelings and transcendence. This supports the notion that overall, hospital clown interventions are beneficial for patients. However, when considering individual differences in the receptiveness to humor, results confirmed that high trait cheerful patients showed more Duchenne smiles than low trait cheerful patients (with no difference in Non-Duchenne smiles), and reported a higher level of positive emotions than low trait cheerful individuals. In summary, although hospital clown interventions on average successfully raise the patients’ level of positive emotions, not all patients in hospitals are equally susceptible to respond to humor with amusement, and thus do not equally benefit from a hospital clown intervention. Implications for research and practitioners are discussed.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Are Clowns Good for Everyone? The Influence of Trait Cheerfulness on Emotional Reactions to a Hospital Clown Intervention

Auerbach

2017

Front. Psychol.

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“…Thus, humor-based PPIs are expected to be well-received by the participants and enable a higher commitment to continue practicing and incorporating the activities into daily life. It has been shown that humor induces amusement ( Ruch, 2001 , 2008 , 2009 ; Auerbach et al, 2016 ), an important facet of positive emotions (the one that most frequently goes along with laughter; Platt et al, 2013 ). Given that the elicitation of positive emotions is one of the proposed working mechanisms of PPIs ( Sin and Lyubomirsky, 2009 ), humor seems to be particularly well-suited for incorporation in PPIs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who Benefits From Humor-Based Positive Psychology Interventions? The Moderating Effects of Personality Traits and Sense of Humor

2018

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The evidence for the effectiveness of humor-based positive psychology interventions (PPIs; i.e., interventions aimed at enhancing happiness and lowering depressive symptoms) is steadily increasing. However, little is known about who benefits most from them. We aim at narrowing this gap by examining whether personality traits and sense of humor moderate the long-term effects of humor-based interventions on happiness and depressive symptoms. We conducted two placebo-controlled online-intervention studies testing for moderation effects. In Study 1 (N = 104) we tested for moderation effects of basic personality traits (i.e., psychoticism, extraversion, and neuroticism) in the three funny things intervention, a humor-based PPI. In Study 2 (N = 632) we tested for moderation effects of the sense of humor in five different humor-based interventions. Happiness and depressive symptoms were assessed before and after the intervention, as well as after 1, 3, and 6 months. In Study 2, we assessed sense of humor before and 1 month after the intervention to investigate if changes in sense of humor go along with changes in happiness and depressive symptoms. We found moderating effects only for extraversion. Extraverts benefitted more from the three funny things intervention than introverts. For neuroticism and psychoticism no moderation effects were found. For sense of humor, no moderating effects were found for the effectiveness of the five humor-based interventions tested in Study 2. However, changes in sense of humor from pretest to the 1-month follow-up predicted changes in happiness and depressive symptoms. Taking a closer look, the playful attitude- and sense of humor-subscales predicted changes in happiness and depression for up to 6 months. Overall, moderating effects for personality (i.e., extraversion) were found, but none for sense of humor at baseline. However, increases in sense of humor during and after the intervention were associated with the interventions’ effectiveness. Thus, we found humor-based interventions to be equally suited for humorous and non-humorous people, but increases in the sense of humor during the intervention phase could serve as an indicator whether it is worth continuing the intervention in the long-term.

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The influence of resilience on social creativity: Chain mediation effects of sense of humor and positive mood

Liu

Yang

et al. 2022

Psychology in the Schools

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Though previous research has established a strong link between resilience and cognitive creativity, few studies have extended this association to social creativity. The underlying mechanisms of the influence of resilience on social creativity remain unknown. Therefore, the current study introduced sense of humor and positive mood to explore the influence of resilience on social creativity.We established a chain mediation model with data from 186 Chinese college students. The results showed that resilience was associated with social creativity. The sense of humor and positive mood were serial mediators in this relationship. The results have demonstrated that student participants with higher levels of resilience are more likely to use humor in their study, which may help them get a more positive mood than their counterparts with lower levels of resilience. Then, positive mood is conducive to students' performance of social creativity.

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Positive emotions elicited by clowns and nurses: An experimental study in a hospital setting.

Cited by 14 publications

References 16 publications

Are Clowns Good for Everyone? The Influence of Trait Cheerfulness on Emotional Reactions to a Hospital Clown Intervention

Are Clowns Good for Everyone? The Influence of Trait Cheerfulness on Emotional Reactions to a Hospital Clown Intervention

Who Benefits From Humor-Based Positive Psychology Interventions? The Moderating Effects of Personality Traits and Sense of Humor

The influence of resilience on social creativity: Chain mediation effects of sense of humor and positive mood

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