Article Summary
Abstract
Humor is considered as the effective means of enhancing the wellbeing of the individuals by means of developing the positive inclinations in the individuals and become socially active. Humor is categorized in two categories, adaptive and maladaptive humor, hence, their effects are considered to alter the wellbeing of the individuals. The humor exercises are found to be effective in enhancing the mental health of the individuals. The current study was aimed to determine the effectiveness of humor, gratitude and savoring exercises on the wellbeing of the individuals. The participants of the study in a control group incorporated the writing exercises to determine their humor experiences, savoring and gratitude examples were also enlightened. The participants from the other group described their experiences and the extent of their wellbeing was examined using the questionnaire measures. The results of the study indicated that humor exercises enhanced the cognitive appraisal of the individuals due to which the individuals were considered to be highly engaged in the social activities, which eventually indicates their wellbeing. The results for the other psychological exercises also depicted the positive results whereas, the written exercises did not indicate any positive influence on the wellbeing or cognitive appraisal of the individuals. It was also evident that adaptive style of humor enhances the wellbeing of the individuals at a greater extent than the maladaptive style of humor which results in the aggressive and self-defeating humor. The study provided the insights about the practical application of the humor exercises provided the future direction research to the scholars by means of replicating this study in such manner that the long term effects of the humor exercise can be determined.
Keywords: Wellbeing, Humor, Gratitude, Savoring.
Summary
The prevalence of humor is considered as the predictor of mental health by means of the extent of happiness, depression and self-esteem. The extent of mental health encompasses the wellbeing of an individual which eventually indicates the positive and negative association between the constructs of mental health and humor. The prior conceptual model has enlightened humor in four dimensions that are mainly branched from two styles, comprising of adaptive and maladaptive styles. The positive mental health and wellbeing of the individual is considered to be related to the adaptive style, whereas the consequences of maladaptive styles are found deteriorating for the mental health of an individual (Wilkins & Eisenbraun, 2009; Maiolino & Kuiper, 2016).
The adaptive style determines the extent to which an individual copes with the adversity and fosters his relationships by means of the self-enhancing humor and affiliative humor. However, maladaptive style determines the extent to which an individual incorporates self-deprecation and criticism by means self-defeating humor and aggressive humor. The psychological experts have incorporated the training of humor skills among the individuals in order to enhance their wellbeing. Hence, the acquisition of humor skills evidently reduced the extent of depression among the individuals who were trained than the non-trained group (Wilkins & Eisenbraun, 2009; Maiolino & Kuiper, 2016).
The study conducted by Maiolino and Kuiper (2016) was aimed to analyze the effect of humor skills on the wellbeing of the individuals, based on the fact that the prior studies have focused on the enhancing the mental health of the individuals. Similarly, the prior studies also incorporated the systematic training of the humor skills by means of conducting training sessions for up to 8 to 10 weeks and per hour a day. However, the current study implied the training of humor skills by means of incorporating the humor exercise of 5 minutes, so that the immediate effect on the wellbeing of the individual can be determined.
In this manner, an experimental study was conducted in which two groups were observed, out of which the first group was encompassed with the 5 minute humor exercise, whereas the control group was encouraged to write the events that are experienced by the individuals. Moreover, the current study was also objectified towards determining the effect of other psychological exercises, encompassing the gratitude, on the wellbeing of the individuals. The extent of wellbeing was determined before and after the psychological and humor exercises so that the effectiveness of the exercise can be determined in an effective manner (Maiolino & Kuiper, 2016).
The dimension of the study was expanded by means of categorizing the humor levels, comprising of low, medium and high extent in accordance with all the four styles of humor. The concern related to the matching specificity was addressed by ensuring that the four types of humor exercises are categorized on account of the humor levels. The hypotheses of the study were objectified on determining the effect of humor exercise and psychology based exercise on the wellbeing of the individuals and comparing this effect with the result of the control group. Moreover, the hypotheses were also aimed to enlighten if adaptive humor styles can facilitate the effectiveness of all the exercises as compared to the maladaptive humor styles (Maiolino & Kuiper, 2016).
The wellbeing of the individuals was the dependent variable, whereas, adaptive and maladaptive humor style was considered as the independent variable. The current study incorporated the humor model, which indicates the relation between the extent of humor and depression, mental level and wellbeing of the individuals, and is in accordance with the constructs that are being incorporated in the study. The Subjective Happiness Scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale and Positive and Negative Affect Schedule was used to determine the wellbeing of the participants. The Humor Styles Questionnaire was used to determine the different styles of the humor (Maiolino & Kuiper, 2016).
The results acquired from the experimentation and questionnaires, were tested empirically and the results of the study supported the first and second hypotheses, in which the humor and psychological exercises enhanced the wellbeing of the individuals, whereas, the effect of these exercises was more prominent than the writing practice conducted in the control group. Similarly, the third hypothesis of the study was also supported which indicated that adaptive and maladaptive styles of the humor effect the wellbeing of the individuals (Maiolino & Kuiper, 2016).
The patterns observed in the study indicated that the prevalence of humor and gratitude is able to enhance the wellbeing of the individuals and can help in increasing the social network of the individuals. In this instance, self-enhancing humor is able to facilitate the interactions that individuals make within their environment. The study provided the evidence which incorporated that the cognitive appraisals can be enhanced with these exercises, however, their individual effect on the life satisfaction and happiness remained unknown (Maiolino & Kuiper, 2016).
The current study provided with the effective means of enhancing the wellbeing of the individuals by means of the small exercises and proved the consistency of the results via its empirical standing. However, the differentiated humor styles can shape the wellbeing of the individuals, but it is necessary to distinguish between the maladaptive and adaptive humor in order to ascertain the most effective outcomes (Maiolino & Kuiper, 2016).
Reflection
The increasing societal issues are considered as a consequence of the deteriorated wellbeing and depression among the individuals due to which the experts require the most effective and cost efficient measures and interventions to enhance the wellbeing of the individuals (Maiolino & Kuiper, 2016). The over-emphasis on the provision of the recreational activities is considered adequate, but time consuming, and the general population is not engaged in such activities due to their busy schedule or lack of interest. In this manner, the simple and short interventions are required to enhance the wellbeing of the individuals.
The current study provides the most effective approach for enhancing the wellbeing of the individuals by means of engaging them in the simple exercises of humor, which can eventually effect their stress level and can make them socially active (Maiolino & Kuiper, 2016). The indulgence in the social activities ensures that the individuals are stressed free due to the social interaction with the group of people and hence, the wellbeing of the individuals starts to increase in a systematic manner.
The busy schedules, based on the professional, personal and academic tasks, limit the individuals’ time frame to incorporate the physical and recreational activities and hence, the implementation of the humor exercises in the daily routine is considered effective in enhancing the wellbeing of the individuals. According to Maiolino & Kuiper (2016), the humor exercises are simple and do not require the specific equipment and supervision due to which they can be incorporated by the individuals in an effective manner. The training procedure is easy and highly adoptive in nature due to which it can be implemented in the daily schedule of the individuals.
On the contrary, these exercises can be implemented in the clinical practice by the experts in order to enhance the wellbeing of the clients who suffer from the state of depression (Maiolino & Kuiper, 2016). In this way, a few minutes’ exercise can positively influence the inclinations of the client and can act as the initial step towards the acquisition of better mental health outcomes among such clients. The clinical interventions often require the consistency of sessions and require the expert supervision, however, these exercises can be taught to the clients so that they can practice and maintain their stress level in an effective manner.
The prevalence of depression and deteriorated wellbeing has been found common in the society, regardless of an individual’s age and gender. Therefore, the educators and policy makers can also consider the implementation of the humor exercises in the education system so that the individuals can be trained to maintain their wellbeing by the continuous practice of such exercises (Maiolino & Kuiper, 2016). These exercises can be learnt by the students and a widespread implementation of this intervention can be implied at a low cost and hence, the societal wellbeing can be enhanced in a broader perspective.
The results of the current study have indicated the effectiveness of the adaptive styles than the maladaptive styles (Maiolino & Kuiper, 2016). In this manner, the experts can be directed from this study and can help the clients to determine the maladaptive styles so that its negative effects on the wellbeing of the individuals can be avoided. The screening mechanism can be conducted in identifying the maladaptive and adaptive styles in the behavior of the clients and hence, the practice of adaptive styles can be incorporated to direct the wellbeing of the clients towards the positive behavior and societal harmony.
In this instance, the educators and policy makers can also determine the aspects of the adaptive and maladaptive styles among the pupil and can develop the measures to shape the behavior of these individuals in practicing the adaptive styles (Maiolino & Kuiper, 2016). Therefore, the wellbeing of the individuals can be shaped in an effective manner and can shape their wellbeing in the long term. Similarly, the initial screening of the maladaptive behavior can help in the implementation of the interventions by the experts so that the societal concerns related to the deteriorated wellbeing, increased depression and deteriorated mental health can be eradicated effectively.
References
Maiolino, N., & Kuiper, N. (2016). Examining the impact of a brief humor exercise on psychological well-being. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 2(1), 4.
Wilkins, J., & Eisenbraun, A. J. (2009). Humor theories and the physiological benefits of laughter. Holistic nursing practice, 23(6), 349-354.
