the connection between divergent thinking and humor appreciation. PDF
Preview the connection between divergent thinking and humor appreciation.
UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff MMaassssaacchhuusseettttss AAmmhheerrsstt SScchhoollaarrWWoorrkkss@@UUMMaassss AAmmhheerrsstt Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014 2005 TTwwoo tthhoouugghhttss ddiivveerrggeedd iinn aa ffuunnnnyy jjookkee :: tthhee ccoonnnneeccttiioonn bbeettwweeeenn ddiivveerrggeenntt tthhiinnkkiinngg aanndd hhuummoorr aapppprreecciiaattiioonn.. Jason J. Glass University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/theses Glass, Jason J., "Two thoughts diverged in a funny joke : the connection between divergent thinking and humor appreciation." (2005). Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014. 2432. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.umass.edu/theses/2432 This thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TWO THOUGHTS DIVERGEDINA FUNNY THECONNECTIONBETWEEN JOKE- DIVERGENTTHINKING AND HUMOR APPRECIATION A Thesis Presented by JASON GLASS J. Submittedto the GraduateSchoolofthe UniversityofMassachusettsAmherstinpartialfulfillment oftherequirements forthedegreeof MASTEROF SCIENCE September 2005 DepartmentofPsychology Socialand Personality Psychology TWO THOUGHTS THECONNECTIONBEDTIWVEEERNGEDINAFUNNYIOKF- DIVERGENTTKD^QNG ANDHUMOR APPRECIATION A Thesis Presented by JASON GLASS J. Approved as to style and content by: James R. Averill, Chair K • RonnieJa^d/tf-Bulman, Member David H. Arnold, Member Melinda A. Novak, Department Chair Psychology ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ^ Thisstudywouldnothavebeenpossiblewerei,notfafasingularMofmy JamesR.AveriU,andtheadventutethatteignedfromthefirstmusingsonthistopictothe explorationofeverylastdatapoint. Iwouldalso liketo thankmyresearchcommictee members. Ronniejanoff-Bulmanand DavidH.Arnold,forbeingexceptionallyforthcomingabouranyand everythingthatcouldbedoneto makethisabetterpieceofwork. Theirdedicationto mysuccess wasevidentateveryturn. Ofcourse, no researchprojectcouldeverexistwithoutthegeneroustimeandeffortofthe participants involved. Myappreciationisboundlessforthosestudentswhotreatedthisas more thanastudyofmine, butas anexperienceoftheirown. Lastly, Iwishtoofferaveryspecialthankyoutomyfellowgraduatestudentsinthe department,who, likeanygoodfriends,listenedto myfranticpleaswithtranquilizingreassurance andreveledin mybreakthroughswithhonestenthusiasm. Withouttheirinsights,critiques,and generallysupportivenatures,thiswouldhavebeenamuchlesserproduct. Despitethesingleauthorshipofthiswork,thispieceexistsas itdoesbecauseofthosewho stood, simultaneously, behindmeandwith me. iii ABSTRACT TWO THOUGHTS THECONNECTION BEDTIWVEEERNGEDDIIVNAERFUGNENNY^IOHKmF-^G AND HUMOR APPRECIATION SEPTEMBER 2005 JASONJ. GLASS, B.A., UNIVERSITYOFCALIFORNIASANTACRUZ M.S., UNIVERSITYOFMASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directedby: ProfessorJames R. Averill Thecurrentstudyseeks togobeyondthecorrelationallinkbetweenhumorandcreativity byexaminingthepossibleunderlyingcognitiveprocessesaccountingforarelationshipbetween humorappreciationanddivergentthinking(consideredtobeaprominentfactorofcreativity). The cognitivelinkbetweenthetwo is thoughtto beexplainedbyanopennesstopossibilitiesthat allows for moreeffectiveunderstandingandawiderawarenessoftheissue(beitacreativetaskor an incongruentpunch lineto ajoke). Insights into theeffectofmoodonhumorappreciationand divergentthinkingareoffered. Divergentthinkingwas predictedto facilitatehumorappreciation, butresultswerenon-significant. Convergentthinking, ontheotherhand,wasthoughttobean opposingprocess andpredictedtobeassociatedwithdecreasedappreciationforhumor,butthese resultswerealso non-significant. Correlationalfindings didstillindicatearelationshipamong creativity, cognitive complexity,andsenseofhumoronadispositionalasopposedtoanepisodic levelofanalysis. iv TABLEOFCONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS M ' iii ABSTRACT iv LISTOFTABLES " vii CHAPTER L INTRODUCTION... 8 TheCaseofHumor TheCaseofCreativity FromOneto Many FromManytoOne ^^^ TheCaseofProcess Versus Product _ The CaseofMood 2^ Hypotheses METHOD 2. ExperimentalDesign „ M yj Participants m yj Measures M yj Mood Scales M yj DivergentThinkingTasks lg ConvergentThinkingTasks 19 ControlTask m 19 HumorAppreciation Ratings (HARs) 20 IndividualDifferencesScales 20 Procedure 21 Scoring 22 RESULTS 3. 23 Individual Differences 23 Mood 24 HumorAppreciation 25 ExperimentalEffects 27 AdditionalExploration 28 v DISCUSSION 4. 32 SummaryofResults InterpretationofResults.... 32 32 Divergenceversus Convergence Humor 32 36 Limitations Future Directions 37 39 APPENDICES 50 MOOD A. SCALE 50 B. DIVERGENTTHINKING TASKS 51 ProductImprovementTask Alternative UsesTask J]" * CategoryTask , j C. CONVERGENTTHINKINGTASKS 52 MazeTask HiddenWordsTask , 53 RemoteAssociateTask ^ D. CONTROLTASK % MemorizationTask ^ E. HUMORAPPRECIATIONTASK ^ 57 F. INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCESSCALES BIBLIOGRAPHY 69 vi LISTOFTABLES Table Page 1. InternalReliabilityofIndividual DifferencesScales 44 2. Mean RatingsonIndividual DifferencesScales 45 3. BivariateandPartialCorrelationsamongtheIndividual DifferencesScales 46 4. InternalReliabilityofThreeMoodScaleAdministrations 47 5. Mean RatingsonThree MoodScale Administrations 48 » ^ro 6. MeanRatingsonIndividualDifferences,Mood,andHumor Appreciation Measures across ConditionsandGenders 49 vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Thereisafairlysizablebaseofresearch thathas foundthathavingagoodsenseofhumor is relatedtobehavingin creativeways. Scalesofwittiness,humor receptiveness,sarcastic tendencies,andothervariantsofhumorassessmenttendtocorrelatewellwith raringsofcreative performanceandthought(Murdock& Ganim, 1993; Ruxton8c Hester, 1987), and interpersonal perceptionofbothattributesalsoappeartobelinked (Cann& Lawrence, 2001;jurcova, 1998). Morebroadly, simplyputtingpeopleintoagood moodhas beenshowntoencouragecreativity (e.g., Grawitch, Munz, 8C Elliot, 2003), andwith humorbeinganeffectivewaytodo so,we must , askifthecorrelationis merelydueto moodenhancement. Whileattemptshavebeen madeto identifythereasons forwhatmakes somethingfunnyor innovative, with someinsightful conclusions, aformal comparisonofthecognitiveprocesses underlyinghumorandcreativityhave notbeenproperlylinkedinorderto makeanyexistingcorrelationbetweenthetwopractically useful. This is theprovocativenichewhich thecurrentstudypurportstoaddress. TheCaseofHumor Thetypicalconstruaofhumoristhatofasociallydesirablepersonalitycharacteristicon which over90percentofpeople claimto rateaverageorabove average (Lefcourt& Martin, 1986), orperhapsaqualitythatonehas to bebornwith andutilizeinaregularfashioninordertosurvive thestereotypicaldatingscene, findingitapreferredattributeinandeffectiveinattractinga potentialmate (Buss, 1988). Whilethesenotionsandothers maynotbeatodds, inorderto properlydefinehumorfor researchpurposes,we mustdisentangleitsproperties. Therearetwoobviousdirections fromwhich wecan approach thestudyofhumor: from theprocessofformingsomehumorousproduct,or fromtheproductitself. The morecommon method is toexaminetheproduaasaglimpseintopeople'sappreciation forhumor (e.g., Ruch, 8
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