In Japan, individuals of higher social class engage in other-oriented humor.

Previous research on individual social class (SC) and humor has found support for the hypothesis that those with higher SC will engage in more dominant humor (aggressive humor) that derogates or degrades others. One rationale for introducing this hypothesis is the well-known theory that people with higher SC are more self-oriented; however, it has recently been shown that there may be cultural differences in this theory. In this study, using a Japanese sample objective measures (income and educational attainment) and subjective measures (perceived social status) and examined in relation to humor. Four types of humor assessed by the Humor Styles Questionnaire and two types of humor measured by the Dual Self-Directed Humor Scale were considered to investigate the relationship between SC and humor. Unlike prior findings obtained in Western countries, Study 1 (N = 344) and Study 2 (N = 604) consistently showed that SC and aggressive humor were unrelated. Rather, SC was shown to be positively associated with other-oriented humor in Japan, a country belonging to the Confucian cultural sphere of East Asia. The differences in results from these previous studies were discussed from a cultural contextual perspective.

Students' Perception of Teachers' Humor Predicts Their Mental Health.

The aim of the present study was to determine whether two types of teacher humor (Aggressive Humor and Affinity Humor) are predictors of students' mental health. A self-report scale was administered to 500 elementary and junior high school students in grades 4 to 9 (mean age 12.04, SD = 1.76) asking questions about perceived teacher humor, stress response, emotional well-being, and self-esteem. Aggressive humor was a significant positive predictor of stress response and a significant negative predictor of emotional well-being. Affinity humor was a significant positive predictor of emotional well-being and self-esteem. These results suggest that the teacher's humor is related to students' mental health. We conclude that teachers should refrain from using aggressive humor as much as possible in favor of affinity humor.

Preliminary Verification of Instructional Humor Processing Theory: Mediators Between Instructor Humor and Student Learning.

Instructional humor processing theory has been proposed to explain how the type of humor used by the course instructor can affect student learning. In this study, a cross-sectional design was used to test whether the relation between the instructor's type of humor (related, unrelated, self-disparaging, offensive, and disparaging humor), and learning is mediated by variables assumed by the instructional humor processing theory (emotion, motivation, and information-processing ability). A total of 360 university and junior college students with a mean age of 19.31 years (standard deviation = 0.75) completed a questionnaire concerning their impression on the instructor humor, emotion, motivation, processing ability, and cognitive learning in a specific course. The results revealed that the instructor's-related humor significantly predicted the cognitive learning of students, and their relation can be mediated by all variables assumed by instructional humor processing theory. Our results provided preliminary evidence for the legitimacy of the instructional humor processing theory model.

[Studies regarding the goals of indirect request].

Why do people make requests indirectly? We examined the goals of indirect requests in order to answer this question. In study 1, 162 university students completed a questionnaire regarding the goals of indirect requests. Exploratory factor analysis indicated that the goals of indirect requests could be classified into five types: concern for the listener, making an effective request, avoidance of explicit refusal, self-impression management, or conveyance of indebtedness. In study 2, we examined whether these goals actually affect the use of indirect requests by conducting a questionnaire study with 25 university students. The results indicated that some goals (making an effective request, avoidance of explicit refusal, self-impression management, and conveyance of indebtedness) have positive effects on indirect requests, whereas the goal of concern for the listener has no effect. Therefore, we concluded that these four goals which have positive effects are reasonable goals for indirect requests.

[Relationships between humor expression and self-acceptance, aggression, and altruism].

The structure of humor expression was clarified and its relationships with aggression, altruism, and self-acceptance were examined. In study 1, college students (n = 216) responded to a scale with items about humor expression. An exploratory factor analysis indicated three types of humor expression: aggressive, self-disparaging, and playful humor expression. In study 2, 119 college students responded to items about (a) humor expression, (b) aggression, (c) altruism, and (d) self-acceptance. The results showed positive relationships between aggressive humor expression and aggression, self-disparaging humor expression and self-acceptance, and playful humor expression and altruism.

[Investigation into the motives for different expressions of humor].

This study examined the motives for different expressions of humor. University students (n = 286) completed a questionnaire regarding motives for three types of humor expressions: aggressive humor, self-disparaging humor, and playful humor. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the motives for the expressions of humor could be classified into five types: relationship construction, transmitting dissatisfaction, supporting others, managing self-impression, or supporting self. ANOVA was conducted to examine differences in the strengths of the motives among the three types of humor expressions. The results indicated that the motive for transmitting dissatisfaction was stronger in aggressive humor expressions than in the two other types of humor expressions. On the other hand, the motive for supporting others was weaker in aggressive humor expressions than in the two other types of humor expressions. Moreover, the motive for supporting self was stronger in self-disparaging humor expression than in aggressive humor expression.