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Graduation Term
Summer 2026
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Department of Psychology
Committee Chair
Eric Wesselmann
Committee Member
Daniel G. Lannin
Abstract
The Humor Styles Questionnaire developed by Martin et al. (2003) differentiates among four styles of humor – affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive, and self-defeating. Previous research has consistently connected higher usage of affiliative and self-enhancing humor with lower levels of hopelessness or higher levels of hope, although findings in this realm regarding affiliative and aggressive humor have been more mixed. The present study made use of a new measure of hopelessness, Drinkwater et al.’s (2023) General Hopelessness Scale, to assess connections between humor style usage and hopelessness in an undergraduate sample. In addition, due to a lack of research regarding how humor style usage may relate to levels of meaninglessness, the No Meaning Scale (Kunzendorf et al., 1995-1996) was employed to assess meaninglessness in participants. Correlation analyses were used for all study variables, and regression analysis was employed to assess predictive effects of the four humor styles on hopelessness and meaninglessness separately. Affiliative, self-enhancing, and self-defeating humor were all significantly correlated with both hopelessness and meaninglessness, and aggressive humor was correlated with meaninglessness as well. Furthermore, affiliative and self-enhancing humor predicted lower hopelessness and meaninglessness, while self-defeating humor predicted higher hopelessness and meaninglessness. Implications of results are discussed.
Access Type
Thesis-ISU Access Only
Recommended Citation
Abbs, Brandon M., "Humor Style Usage as Related to Hopelessness and Meaninglessness" (2026). Theses and Dissertations. 2357.
https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/etd/2357