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, defined as the benign uses of humor to enhance one's relationships with others; self-enhancing, indicating uses of humor to enhance the self; aggressive, the use of humor to enhance the self at the expense of others; self-defeating 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. Three more questions were included (age, gender and self-reported accuracy of answer). The number of respondents is 993, after removing the cases with missing values in the 32 statements.
data("hsq")A data frame with 993 observations on 35 variables. The first 32 variables are Likert-type statements with 5 response categories, ranging from 1 (strong agreement) to 5 (strong disagreement).
AF1I usually don't laugh or joke around much with other people
AF2If I am feeling depressed, I can usually cheer myself up with humor
AF3If someone makes a mistake, I will often tease them about it
AF4I let people laugh at me or make fun at my expense more than I should
AF5I don't have to work very hard at making other people laugh - I seem to be a naturally humorous person
AF6Even when I'm by myself, I'm often amused by the absurdities of life
AF7People are never offended or hurt by my sense of humor
AF8I will often get carried away in putting myself down if it makes my family or friends laugh
SE1I rarely make other people laugh by telling funny stories about myself
SE2If I am feeling upset or unhappy I usually try to think of something funny about the situation to make myself feel better
SE3When telling jokes or saying funny things, I am usually not very concerned about how other people are taking it
SE4I often try to make people like or accept me more by saying something funny about my own weaknesses, blunders, or faults
SE5I laugh and joke a lot with my closest friends
SE6My humorous outlook on life keeps me from getting overly upset or depressed about things
SE7I do not like it when people use humor as a way of criticizing or putting someone down
SE8I don't often say funny things to put myself down
AG1I usually don't like to tell jokes or amuse people
AG2If I'm by myself and I'm feeling unhappy, I make an effort to think of something funny to cheer myself up
AG3Sometimes 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
AG4I often go overboard in putting myself down when I am making jokes or trying to be funny
AG5I enjoy making people laugh
AG6If I am feeling sad or upset, I usually lose my sense of humor
AG7I never participate in laughing at others even if all my friends are doing it
AG8When I am with friends or family, I often seem to be the one that other people make fun of or joke about
SD1I don't often joke around with my friends
SD2It is my experience that thinking about some amusing aspect of a situation is often a very effective way of coping with problems
SD3If I don't like someone, I often use humor or teasing to put them down
SD4If 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
SD5I usually can't think of witty things to say when I'm with other people
SD6I 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
SD7Even if something is really funny to me, I will not laugh or joke about it if someone will be offended
SD8Letting others laugh at me is my way of keeping my friends and family in good spirits
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.