Chapter 21 Further Reading: The Role of Humor

Foundational Works

Martin, R. A. (2007). The Psychology of Humor: An Integrative Approach. Academic Press. The definitive academic overview of humor psychology, covering all the major theories, the Humor Styles Questionnaire research program, and the relationship between humor and well-being. Essential reading for anyone who wants to go beyond this chapter's survey.

Miller, G. F. (2000). The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature. Doubleday. The book that developed the fitness indicator hypothesis in full, with humor as one of several cognitive capacities analyzed as sexually selected. Miller's argument is rich and provocative; read it alongside the critical literature.

Key Empirical Studies

Greengross, G., & Miller, G. F. (2011). Humor ability reveals intelligence, predicts mating success, and is higher in males. Intelligence, 39(4), 188–192. The study testing humor ability, intelligence, and mating success connections. Relatively small sample but widely cited; good for practicing methodological critique.

Bressler, E. R., Martin, R. A., & Balshine, S. (2006). Production and appreciation of humor as sexually selected traits. Evolution and Human Behavior, 27(2), 121–130. Addresses gender differences in humor production versus appreciation directly. One of the most-cited empirical papers on the topic.

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. Journal of Research in Personality, 37(1), 48–75. The original Humor Styles Questionnaire validation paper, introducing the four-style taxonomy.

On Digital and Contemporary Contexts

Sharabi, L. L., & Caughlin, J. P. (2017). What predicts first date success? A longitudinal study of modality switching in online dating. Personal Relationships, 24(3), 370–391. Examines the transition from online to face-to-face contact, with findings relevant to humor as a predictor of initial date success.

Broader Context

Apte, M. L. (1985). Humor and Laughter: An Anthropological Approach. Cornell University Press. A cross-cultural treatment of humor that significantly complicates universal claims. Particularly useful for the cultural-variation material in Section 21.12.

Ford, T. E., & Ferguson, M. A. (2004). Social consequences of disparagement humor. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8(1), 79–94. Research on how exposure to aggressive, identity-targeting humor affects attitudes. Directly relevant to the ethics section of this chapter.

For the Curious

Provine, R. R. (2000). Laughter: A Scientific Investigation. Viking. Provine's accessible and fascinating account of laughter as a social phenomenon, based on his observational research. The finding that we laugh thirty times more in social settings comes from this work. Genuinely enjoyable reading.