hsq: Humor Styles
In clustrd: Methods for Joint Dimension Reduction and Clustering

hsq	R Documentation

Humor Styles

Description

The dataset was collected with an interactive online version of the Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ) which assesses four independent ways in which people express and appreciate humor (Martin et al. 2003): affiliative (items with prefix AF), defined as the benign uses of humor to enhance one's relationships with others; self-enhancing (SE), indicating uses of humor to enhance the self; aggressive (AG), the use of humor to enhance the self at the expense of others; self-defeating (SD), the use of humor to enhance relationships at the expense of oneself. The main part of the questionnaire consisted of 32 statements rated from 1 to 5 according to the respondents' level of agreement. The number of respondents is 993.

Usage

data("hsq")

Format

A data frame with 993 observations on 32 Likert-type variables (statements) with 5 response categories, ranging from 1 (strong agreement) to 5 (strong disagreement).

AF1: I usually don't laugh or joke around much with other people
SE2: If I am feeling depressed, I can usually cheer myself up with humor
AG3: If someone makes a mistake, I will often tease them about it
SD4: I let people laugh at me or make fun at my expense more than I should
AF5: I don't have to work very hard at making other people laugh - I seem to be a naturally humorous person
SE6: Even when I'm by myself, I'm often amused by the absurdities of life
AG7: People are never offended or hurt by my sense of humor
SD8: I will often get carried away in putting myself down if it makes my family or friends laugh
AF9: I rarely make other people laugh by telling funny stories about myself
SE10: If I am feeling upset or unhappy I usually try to think of something funny about the situation to make myself feel better
AG11: When telling jokes or saying funny things, I am usually not very concerned about how other people are taking it
SD12: I often try to make people like or accept me more by saying something funny about my own weaknesses, blunders, or faults
AF13: I laugh and joke a lot with my closest friends
SE14: My humorous outlook on life keeps me from getting overly upset or depressed about things
AG15: I do not like it when people use humor as a way of criticizing or putting someone down
SD16: I don't often say funny things to put myself down
AF17: I usually don't like to tell jokes or amuse people
SE18: If I'm by myself and I'm feeling unhappy, I make an effort to think of something funny to cheer myself up
AG19: Sometimes I think of something that is so funny that I can't stop myself from saying it, even if it is not appropriate for the situation
SD20: I often go overboard in putting myself down when I am making jokes or trying to be funny
AF21: I enjoy making people laugh
SE22: If I am feeling sad or upset, I usually lose my sense of humor
AG23: I never participate in laughing at others even if all my friends are doing it
SD24: When I am with friends or family, I often seem to be the one that other people make fun of or joke about
AF25: I don't often joke around with my friends
SE26: It is my experience that thinking about some amusing aspect of a situation is often a very effective way of coping with problems
AG27: If I don't like someone, I often use humor or teasing to put them down
SD28: If I am having problems or feeling unhappy, I often cover it up by joking around, so that even my closest friends don't know how I really feel
AF29: I usually can't think of witty things to say when I'm with other people
SE30: I don't need to be with other people to feel amused - I can usually find things to laugh about even when I'm by myself
AG31: Even if something is really funny to me, I will not laugh or joke about it if someone will be offended
SD32: Letting others laugh at me is my way of keeping my friends and family in good spirits

References

Martin, R. A., Puhlik-Doris, P., Larsen, G., Gray, J., & Weir, K. (2003). Individual differences in uses of humor and their relation to psychological well-being: Development of the Humor Styles Questionnaire. Journal of Research in Personality, 37(1), 48-75.