The Journal of the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children

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& Ward, 2008). The present study, however, only found a positive relationship between affiliative humor and well-being among men in the comparative population group. A possible explanation for our finding that, among gifted men, affiliative humor and well-being are unrelated, is that for gifted men’s sense of happiness and well-being, social relationships are less important than for non-gifted individuals. Several studies have indeed shown that gifted individuals attach high value to their intellectual capacities and problem-solving skills, more than to their social and emotional skills (e.g., Burdick, Kreicker, & Klopfer, 1981), that gifted individuals derive more positive emotions from their academic abilities and achievements than non-gifted individuals (Chovan & Morrison, 1984), and that, relative to their non-gifted peers, gifted students value independence more and social support less (Bachtold, 1968). Thus, although the gifted seem to engage to a similar extent in the four humor styles distinguished by Martin and colleagues (2003), humor styles seem to be related differently to well-being among gifted men, compared to other populations. Conclusions For women, there were no differences between the gifted sample and the comparative population sample with regard to the relations between humor styles and well-being. The present study showed that, among women, selfenhancing humor was related positively to wellbeing, whereas self-defeating humor was related negatively to well-being. These relations are consistent with previous studies (e.g., Martin et al., 2003). The positive relation that has been reported in previous studies between well-being and affiliative humor (e.g., Martin et al., 2003) was not replicated in the two subsamples of women that were used in the present study. Although for both subsamples the relations were positive, they did not reach significance. Probably more interesting than the fact that in both subsamples of women there was no relation between affiliative humor and wellbeing, however, is the fact that among men from the comparative population group there was a substantial relation between these variables. Apparently, using affiliative humor, which is often used to improve the relations with others, contributes particularly to men’s well-being (albeit not in the gifted population). Concluding, the present study is the first to study humor styles and their relation to wellbeing among the gifted. In doing so, it contributes to our knowledge on both giftedness and humor styles, and their relation with well-being, and opens the door for future research. When it comes to humor as a tool for promoting well-being, our results suggest that interventions aimed at promoting the well-being of the gifted should take into account the differences between gifted men and women in the humor styles that are associated with well-being. For instance, whereas gifted women may benefit from learning how to more adequately use self-enhancing humor to cope with daily stress, such an intervention may be ineffective among gifted men. Gifted men, however, as well as gifted women and non-gifted individuals, may be helped to become aware of the potential aversive effects of self-defeating humor on their well-being and be learned how to more adequately deal with social situations and stressors than by using self-defeating humor. Of course our study also suffered from several limitations. First, our study was cross-sectional in nature. We can therefore not draw conclusions about the precise role of humor styles in well-being: do specific humor styles enhance well-being, does well-being enhance specific humor styles, or is there a third variable that causes humor and well-being to be associated? Second, and more importantly, it is well possible that members of Mensa are not entirely representative of the population of gifted adults. We adopted the statistical IQ-definition of giftedness in the present study, and subsequently used Mensa members as a proxy for a gifted sample. Although the results found in the present study for this sample might generalize relatively well to gifted individuals in western countries, this might not necessarily be the case for gifted individuals from non-western cultures or gifted individuals in general. Moreover, perhaps our findings should not be attributed to the (IQ-based) giftedness of our participants per se, but rather to fact that they represent a group of persons who have voluntarily joined an exclusive group (the Mensa society). On the other hand, most studies among the gifted, especially among gifted children, use much more limited samples than the present one (for instance, examining children from one or two specific schools for the gifted only). A strength is that the Mensa sample that we used is relatively heterogeneous: it consists of participants of different ages, and educational levels, thereby increasing the generalizability of our findings. The representativeness of the comparative population sample that we used is, of course, also questionable. Although this was a heterogeneous group of participants, we do not know to what extent this sample, that was collected Gifted and Talented International – 26(1), August, 2011; and 26(2), December, 2011. 95
The World Council for Gifted and Talented Children online, is representative for the general Dutch population. There was, for instance, an overrepresentation of women in the comparative population sample. Because we examined the results for men and women separately, this was, however, not necessarily a problem. The age distribution of the comparative sample was comparable to that of the general Dutch population, as was the distribution of educational level. Future studies will need to cross validate our findings by comparing the humor styles of gifted adults (whether or not Mensa members) with those found in the general population. In addition, future studies may examine the possibility that the gifted use other humor styles than those that can be distinguished on basis of the instrument used in the present study. Finally, future research may follow-up on the present study’s findings on well-being, and, for instance, examine how humor styles exactly affect the well-being of the gifted, or vice versa. References Abel, M. H. (2002). Humor, stress, and coping strategies. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, 15, 365-381. Bachtold, L. M. (1968). Interpersonal values of gifted junior high school students. Psychology in the Schools, 5, 368-370. Bessou, A.; Tyrrell, J.; & Yziquel, M. (2004). Parcours scolaire et professionnel de 28 adultes dits surdoués [Educational and career pathways of 28 gifted adults]. Neuropsychiatrie de l’Enfance et de l’Adolescence, 52, 154-159. Burdick, A. J.; Kreicker, R. A.; & Klopfer, F. J. (1981). Selected values and beliefs of Mensa. Psychological Reports, 48(2), 407-414. Campbell, L.; Martin, R. A.; & Ward, J. R. (2008). An observational study of humor use while resolving conflict in dating couples. Personal Relationships, 15, 41-55. Chan, D. W. (2003). Adjustment problems and multiple intelligences among gifted students in Hong Kong: The development of the revised Student Adjustment Problems Inventory. High Ability Studies, 14, 41-54. Chen, G. H.; & Martin, R. A. (2007). Humor styles and personality-vulnerability to depression. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, 20, 215-234. Chovan, W. L.; & Morrison, R. E. (1984). Correlates of self-concept among variant children. Psychological Reports, 54, 536-538. Diener, E.; Emmons, R.; Larsen, R.; & Griffin, S. (1985). The Satisfaction With Life Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71-75. Fogel, M. L. (1968). Mensa Society. American Psychologist, 23, 457. Ford, D. Y.; Grantham, T. C.; & Milner, R. H. (2004). Underachievement among gifted African American students: Cultural, social, and psychological considerations. In Diane Boothe & Julian C. Stanley (Eds.), In the eyes of the beholder: Critical issues for diversity in gifted education (pp 15-31). Waco, US: Prufrock Press. Frewen, P. A.; Brinker, J.; Martin, R. A.; & Dozois, D. J. A. (2008). Humor styles and personality vulnerability to depression. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, 21, 179-195. Gere, D. R.; Capps, S. C.; Mitchell, W. D.; & Grubbs, E. (2009). Sensory sensitivities of gifted children. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 63, 288-295. Goldberg, D. P. (1972). The detection of psychiatric illness by questionnaire: A technique for the identification and assessment of non-psychotic psychiatric illness. London: Oxford University Press. Hauck, W. E.; & Thomas, J. W. (1972). The relationship of humor to intelligence, creativity, and intentional and incidental learning. Journal of Experimental Education, 40, 52-55. Hayes, M. L.; & Sloat, R. S. (1989). Gifted students at risk for suicide. Roeper Review, 12, 102-107. Hollinger, C. L.; & Kosek, S. (1986). Beyond the use of full scale IQ scores. Gifted Child Quarterly, 30, 74-77. Howrigan, S. P.; & MacDonald, K. B. (2008). Humor as a mental fitness indicator. Evolutionary Psychology, 6, 625-666. Kazarian, S. S.; & Martin, R. A. (2006). Humor styles, culture-related personality, well-being, and family adjustment among Armenians in Lebanon. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, 19, 405-423. Kelly, W. E. (2002). An investigation of worry and sense of humor. Journal of Psychology, 136, 657- 666. 96 Gifted and Talented International – 26(1), August, 2011; and 26(2), December, 2011.
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Examining Opinions and Challenging
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Finally, many thanks go to Kevin La
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undertaking the unit, with many com
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