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RESEARCH PRODUCT
Psychometric Comparisons of Benevolent and Corrective Humor across 22 Countries: The Virtue Gap in Humor Goes International
Sonja HeintzWillibald RuchTracey PlattDandan PangHugo Carretero-diosAlberto DionigiCatalina Argüello GutiérrezIngrid BrdarDorota BrzozowskaHsueh-chih ChenWładysław ChłopickiMatthew CollinsRóbert ĎUrkaNajwa Y El YahfoufiAngélica Quiroga-garzaRobert B IslerAndrés Mendiburo-seguelTamilselvan RamisBetül SaglamOlga V ShcherbakovaKamlesh SinghIeva StokenbergaPeter S O WongJorge Torres-marínsubject
H Social Sciences (General)genetic structures10093 Institute of Psychologyhumorlcsh:BF1-990humor ; virtue ; cross-cultural comparisons ; measurement invariance ; positive psychologypositive psychology3200 General Psychologycross-cultural comparisonseye diseasesDoktoratPsych Erstautormeasurement invariancelcsh:Psychologyfluids and secretions/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3200Psychologysense organs150 PsychologyPsychology(all)virtueOriginal Researchdescription
Recently, two instances of virtue-related humor: benevolent and corrective, have been introduced. Benevolent humor treats human weaknesses and wrongdoings benevolently, while corrective humor aims at correcting and bettering them. Twelve marker items for benevolent and corrective humor (BenCor) were developed, and it was demonstrated that they fill the gap between humor as temperament and virtue. The present study investigates responses to the BenCor from 25 samples in 22 countries (overall N = 7, 226). The psychometric properties of the BenCor were found to be sufficient in most of the samples, including internal consistency, unidimensionality, and factorial validity. Importantly, benevolent and corrective humor were clearly established as two positively related, yet distinct dimensions of virtue-related humor. Metric measurement invariance was supported across the 25 samples, and scalar invariance was supported across six age groups (from 18 to 50+ years) and across gender. The samples could mostly be distinguished regarding their overall means of benevolent and corrective humor and regarding the peculiarities of four of the 12 marker items. Comparisons of samples within and between four countries (Malaysia, Switzerland, Turkey, and the UK) showed that item profiles were more similar within than between countries, though some evidence for regional differences was found as well. Finally, benevolent and corrective humor showed different trajectories across age, with benevolent humor increasing and corrective humor rather decreasing. Additionally, robust gender differences were found, with males scoring higher than females in corrective humor, while males and females did not differ in benevolent humor. This study thus supported for the first time the suitability of the 12 marker items of benevolent and corrective humor in different countries, enabling a cumulative cross-cultural research and eventually applications of humor aiming at the good.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-02-01 |