Umorismo e psicologia positiva. Alcune traiettorie verso il benessere

Carla Canestrari 
Università di Macerata 

Keywords

Emozioni, piacere della mente, punti di forza, virtù, coping humor.

Abstract
Il presente contributo intende offrire un quadro organico sui principali punti di contatto tra umorismo e benessere, inteso dalla psicologia positiva sia in senso edonico che eudaimonico. In particolare, attraverso una sintesi narrativa della letteratura scientifica, teorica ed empirica, vengono approfonditi due nuclei tematici: le emozioni positive e i punti di forza. La trattazione mette in luce come le emozioni positive suscitate dall’umorismo siano definibili piaceri della mente e abbiano un effetto di modulazione di stati negativi. Inoltre, si evidenzia come l’umorismo, in quanto punto di forza, esprima le virtù della trascendenza, dell’umanità e della saggezza e conoscenza, attraverso, rispettivamente, le funzioni di coping, affiliativa, e conoscitiva legata alla curiosità e alla creatività.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Carla Canestrari
Carla Canestrari è professoressa associata di Psicologia Generale presso l’Università di Macerata, si interessa di humor studies da un punto di vista psicologico. In particolare, ha pubblicato in tale ambito articoli scientifici su riviste internazionali sui seguenti temi di ricerca: interazione e metacomunicazione umoristica, processi cognitivi di comprensione dell’umorismo, gelotofobia, coping humor e clownterapia.

REFERENCES

Abel, M.H. (2002). Humor, stress, and coping strategies. Humor, 15, 365–381.

Attardo, S., Chłopicki, W. & Forabosco, G. (2024). The role of Incongruity in Humorous Texts. In T.E. Ford, W. Chłopicki & G. Kuipers (Eds) De Gruyter Handbook of Humor Studies (pp. 105-123). Berlino/Boston: de Gruyter.

Bateson, P. (2014). Play, Playfulness, Creativity and Innovation. Animal Behavior and Cognition, 2(2),99-112.

Beermann, U. & Ruch, W. (2009a). How virtuous is humor? Evidence from everyday behaviour. Humor, 22(4), 395–417.

Beermann, Ursula & Willibald Ruch. (2009b). How virtuous is humour? What we can learn from current instruments. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 4(6), 528–539.

Bianchi, I., Branchini, E., Canestrari, C., & Burro, R. (2022). On pleasures of the mind related to humour and insight problem solving: an investigation of people’s awareness of what they like and why. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 34(6), 778–795.

Biemans, W. G., & Huizingh, E. K. R. E. (2024). Why so serious? The effects of humour on creativity and innovation. Creativity and Innovation Management, 33(2), 181–196. https://doi.org/10.1111/caim.12587

Boniwell, I. (2012). Positive Psychology in a nutshell. The science of happiness. Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press.

Burro, R., Fermani, A., Bongelli, R., Riccioni, I., Muzi, M., Bertolazzi, A., & Canestrari, C. (2022). The Robust Italian Validation of the Coping Humor Scale (RI-CHS) for Adult Health Care Workers. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(5), 2522.

Caird, S. & Martin, R.A. (2014). Relationship-focused humor styles and relationship satisfaction in dating couples: A repeated measure design. Humor, 27(2), 227-247.

Canestrari, C., Branchini, E., Bianchi, I., Savardi, U., & Burro, R. (2018). Pleasures of the mind: What makes jokes and insight problems enjoyable. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 2297, 1–21.

Canestrari, C., Bongelli, R., Fermani, A., Riccioni, I., Bertolazzi, A., Muzi, M., & Burro, R. (2021). Coronavirus Disease Stress Among Italian Healthcare Workers: The Role of Coping Humor. Frontiers in Psychology, 11:601574.

Cann, A., Davis, H.B. & Zapata, C.L. (2011). Humor style and relationship satisfaction in dating couples: Perceived versus self-reported humor styles as predictors of satisfaction. Humor, 24(1), 1-20.

Casali, N. & Feraco, T. (2025). Bridges over troubled water: A meta-analysis of the associations of character strengths with well-being and common mental health disorders. European Journal of Personality, 39(6) 878–896.

Cayirdag, N. & Acar, S. (2010). Relationship between styles of humor and divergent thinking. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2(2), 3236-3240.

Crawford, S. A. & Caltabiano, N. J. (2011). Promoting emotional well-being through the use of humour. Journal of Positive Psychology, 6, 237–252.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: Harper & Row.

Damon, W. (2000). Setting the stage for the development of wisdom: Self-understanding and moral identity during adolescence. In W. S. Brown (Ed.), Understanding wisdom: Sources, science, and society (pp. 339-360). Philadelphia: Templeton Foundation Press.

Dahlsgaard, K., Peterson, C. & Seligman, M.P. (2005). Shared virtue: The convergence of valued human strengths across culture and history. Review of General Psychology, 9(3). 203–213.

de Sousa, R. (2009). Epistemic feelings. Mind & Matter, 7(2), pp. 139–161

De Dreu, C. K., Nijstad, B. A., Bechtoldt, M. N., & Baas, M. (2011). Group creativity and innovation: A motivated information processing perspective. Psychology of aesthetics, creativity, and the arts, 5(1), 81-89.

Diener, E. (1984). Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 95, 542–575.

Dionigi, A., Canestrari, C. & Fermani, A. (2025). Caring with Humor: How Cognitive Flexibility Enhances Humor and Playfulness in Clown Doctors. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 1-25 DOI: 10.1177/00221678251336487

Dionigi, A., Sangiorgi, D. & Flangini, R. (2014). Clown intervention to reduce preoperative anxiety in children and parents: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Health Psychology, 19, 369–380.

Dionigi, A. & Canestrari, C. (2016). Clowning in Health Care Settings: The Point of View of Adults. Europe's Journal of Psychology,  12(3), 473–488.

Dixon, N.F. (1980). Humor: A cognitive alternative to stress? In C.D. Spielberger & I.G. Sarason (Eds) Anxiety and Stress (pp. 281–289). Washington, DC: Hemisphere.

Dong, Z., Han, B., Yang, T., Chen, S., Cao, Y., & Hou, Y. (2025). Humor Production Promotes Creativity: The Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy and the Moderating Role of Fear of Authority. Behavioral Sciences, 15(8), 1003.

Doosje, S., Landsheer, J. A., de Goede, M. P. M., & van Doornen, L. J. P. (2012). Humorous coping scales and their fit to a stress and coping framework. Quality & Quantity, 46, 267–279.

Egemen Merdan, H. & Çağlar, E. (2025). Coach humour styles and athlete commitment: A relational mediation model in team sport contexts. Kinesiology, 57 (2), 195-204.

Esterhuyse, K. G., Nortjé, N., Pienaar, A., & Beukes, R. B. (2013). Sense of humour and adolescents' cognitive flexibility.    South African Family Practice, 55(1), 90-95.

Ferguson, M. A., & Ford, T. E. (2008). Disparagement humor: a theoretical and empirical review of psychoanalytic, superiority, and social identity theories. Humor, 21, 283–312.

Forabosco, G. (1992). Cognitive aspects of the humor process: The concept of incongruity. Humor, 5, 45–68.

Ford, T.E., McCreight, K.A. & Richardson, K. (2014). Affective style, humor styles and happiness. European Journal of Psychology, 10. 451–463.

Frankl, V.E. (1984). The man’s search for meaning. New York: Washington Square Press.

Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56(3), 218–226.

Fredrickson, B. L. (2004). The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 359, 1367–1377.

Fredrickson, B. L., & Levenson, R. W. (1998). Positive emotions speed recovery from the cardiovascular sequelae of negative emotions. Cognition & Emotion, 12(2), 191–220.

Geisler, F.C.M. & Weber, H. (2010). Harm that does not hurt: Humour in coping with self-threat. Motivaton and Emotion, 34, 446–456.

Gerbino, M., Milioni, M., Alessandri, G., Eisenberg, N., Caprara, M., Kupfer, A., Pastorelli, C. & Caprara, G.V. (2018). Self-Efficacy in Retrieving Positive Emotional Experience and Using Humor. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 34, 409–420.

Gockel, C. & Kerr, N. L. (2015). Put-down humor directed at outgroup members increases perceived–but not experienced–cohesion in groups. Humor, 28, 205–228.

Gordon, M. (2010). Learning to laugh at ourselves: Humor, self-transcendence, and the cultivation of moral values. Educational Theory, 60, 735-749.

Gonot-Schoupinsky, F., Neal, M.  & Carson, J. (2024). The Positive Psychology of Laughter and Humour. Leeds, UK: Emerald Publishing Ltd.

Henman, L.D. (2001). Humor as a coping mechanism: Lessons from POWs. Humor, 14, 83–94.

Hernández-López, L.P., Romero-López, M. & del Carmen Pichardo-Martínez, M. (2026). Influence of Humor Styles on the Social Competence of Students. Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, 24(1), 47-68.

Heshmati, S., Kibrislioglu Uysal, N., Kim, S.H., Oravecz, Z. & Donaldson, S.I. (2023).  Momentary PERMA: An Adapted Measurement Tool for Studying Well-Being in Daily Life. Journal of Happiness Studies, 24(8):2441-2472.

Høigaard, R., Haugen, T., Johansen, B.T., & Giske, R. (2017). Team identity in youth soccer: The role of coaches’ feedback patterns and use of humour. International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching, 12(6), 697-707.

Huta, V. & Waterman, A. S. (2014). Eudaimonia and its distinction from hedonia: Developing a classification and terminology for understanding conceptual and operational definitions. Journal of Happiness Studies: An Interdisciplinary Forum on Subjective Well-Being, 15(6), 1425–1456.

Koestler, A. (1964). The Act of Creation. London: Hutchinson.

Kubovy, M. (1999). On the pleasures of the mind. In D. Kahneman, E. Diener, & D. N. Schwarz (Eds.), Well-being: The foundation of hedonic psychology (pp. 134–154). Russell Sage Foundation.

Kuiper, N.A. (2012). Humor and Resiliency: Towards a Process Model of Coping and Growth. European Journal of Psychology, 8, 475–491.

Kuiper, N.A., Martin, R.A. & Olinger, L.J. (1993). Coping humour, stress, and cognitive appraisals. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement, 25(1):81-96.

Lefcourt, H.M. (2002). Humor. In C.R. Snyder & S.J. Lopez (Eds) Handbook of Positive Psychology (pp. 619–631). New York: Oxford University Press.

Lu, J.G., Martin, A.E., Usova, A. & Galinsky, A.D. (2019). Creativity and Humor Across Cultures: Where Aha Meets Haha. In S. R. Luria, J. Baer & J. C. Kaufman (Eds) Creativity and Humor (pp. 183-203). Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA: Academic Press.

Luria, S.R., Baer, J. & Kaufman, J.C. (a cura di) (2019). Humor and Creativity. Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA: Academic Press.

Martin, R.A. (1989). Humour and the mastery of living: Using humour to cope with the daily stresses of growing up. In P.E. McGhee (Ed.) Humour and Children’s Development: A Guide to Practical Applications (pp. 135–154). New York, NY: Ha worth Press.

Martin, R.A. (2001). Humor, laughter, and physical health: Methodological issues and research findings. Psychological Bulletin, 127, 504–519.

Martin, R. A. & Ford, T. (2018). The psychology of humor: An integrative approach. Burlington, MA: Elsevier Academic Press.

Martin, R.A., Kuiper, N.A., Olinger, L.J. & Dance, K.A. (1993). Humor, coping with stress, self-concept, and psychological well-being. Humor, 6, 89–104.

Martin, R. A. & Lefcourt, H. M. (1983). Sense of humor as a moderator of the relation between stressors and moods. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45, 1313–1324

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, 4875.

McGhee, P.E. (1999).  Humor, health and the amuse system. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt.

Moore, A., & Malinowski, P. (2009). Meditation, mindfulness and cognitive flexibility. Consciousness and Cognition, 18(1), 176-186.

Müller, L. & Ruch, W. (2011). Humor and strengths of character. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 6(5), 368–376.

Niebuhr, R. (1969). Humour and faith. In M. Conrad Hyers (a cura di) Holy Laughter: Essays on Religion in the Comic Perspective (pp.134-149). New York: Seabury Press.

Ostrower, C. (2009). It kept us alive: Humour in the Holocaust. Jerusalem: Yad-Vashem.

Pack, S., Hemmings, B. & Arvinen-Barrow, M. (2020). Sport Psychology Consultants’ Reflections on the Role of Humor: “It’s Like Having Another Skill in Your Arsenal”. The Sport Psychologist, 34, 54-61

Pack, S., Hemmings, B., Winter, S. & Arvinen-Barrow, M.A. (2018). A preliminary investigation into the use of humor in sport psychology practice. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 31(4), 494–502.

Papousek, I. (2024). Humor, Health, and Well-Being: Is Humor Really Good for Us? In T.E. Ford, W. Chłopicki & G. Kuipers (Eds) De Gruyter Handbook of Humor Studies (pp. 271-286). Berlino/Boston: de Gruyter.

Papousek, I., Lackner, H.K., Weber, B., Perchtold, C.M., Fink, A. & Weiss, E.M. (2019). Poor control of interference from negative content hampers the effectiveness of humour as a source of positive emotional experiences. Scientific Reports,  9, 8023.

Papousek, I., (2018). Humor and well-being: A little less is quite enough. Humor, 31(2), 311–327.

Park, N., Peterson, C. & Seligman, M.E.P. (2004). Strengths of Character and Well-Being. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 23(5),pp. 603-619.

Perchtold-Stefan, C.M., Papousek, I., Rominger, C., Schertler, M., Weiss, E.M. & Fink, A. (2020). Humor comprehension and creative cognition: Shared and distinct neurocognitive mechanisms as indicated by EEG alpha activity. NeuroImage, 213, 116695.

Peterson, C. (2006). A primer in positive psychology. New York: Oxford University Press.

Peterson, Ch., & Seligman, M.E.P. (2004) (Eds.). Character strength and virtues. A handbook and classification. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association and Oxford University Press, Inc.

Proyer, R.T. & Wolf, A. (2017). Humor and well-being. Reference Module in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Psychology, 1–14.

Rahman, M. S., Zhijin, Z., & Uddin, M. K. (2022). Effects of Affiliative and Aggressive Humor on Creative Thinking. Dhaka University Journal of Biological Sciences, 31(1), 93-104.

Raveri, M. (2020). Il riso degli dèi, il sorriso di Buddha, la risata dei maestri zen. In M. Bettini, M. Raveri & F. Remotti Ridere degli dèi, ridere con gli dèi (pp.103-158). Bologna: Il Mulino.

Ruch, W. (2008). Psychology of humor. In V. Raskin (Ed.) The primer of humor research (pp. 17-100). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Ruch, W. (1993). Exhilaration and Humor. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland (Eds.) Handbook of Emotions (pp. 605-16). New York: Guilford Press.

Ruch, W. & McGhee, P. (2014). Humor intervention programs. In A.C. Parks & S.M. Schueller (Eds.) Handbook of Positive Psychological Interventions (pp. 193–197). Oxford, England: Wiley-Blackwell.

Ruch, W. & Rath, S. (1993). The nature of humor appreciation: toward an Integration of perception of Stimulus properties and affective experience. Humor, 6-4, 363-384.

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 68–78.

Ryff, C.D. (1989). Happiness is Everything, or is It? Explorations on the Meaning of Psychological Well-Being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 6, 1069-1081.

Samson, A.C. & Gross, J.J. (2012). Humour as emotion regulation: The differential consequences of negative versus positive humour. Cognition & Emotion, 26, 2, 375-384.

Schei G.S., Haugen T., Stenling A., Grøtting A., Peters D.M. & Høigaard R. (2021) Development and Initial Validation of the Humor Climate in Sport Scale. Frontiers in Psychology,  12-692892. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.692892

Seligman, M. E. P. (1990). Learned optimism. New York: Knopf.

Seligman M. E. (2011). Flourish. Free Press, New York.

Seligman, M.E.P., Steen, T., Park, N. & Peterson, P. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60, 410-421.

Sheldon, K.M. & Lyubomirsky, S. (2004). Achieving sustainable new happiness: Prospects, practices and prescriptions, in P.A. Liney & S. Joseph (Eds) Positive psychology in practice (127-145), Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Silva L. (2022). Epistemic emotions justified.  Philosophies, 7(5), 104.

Sirigatti, S., Penzo, I., Giannetti, E., Casale, S. & Stefanile, C. (2016). Relationships between humorism profiles and psychological well-being. Personality and Individual Differences, 90, 219–224.

Strick, M., Holland, R. W., Van Baaren, R. B. & van Knippenberg A. (2009). Finding comfort in a joke: Consolatory effects of humor through cognitive distraction. Emotion 9, 574–578.

Suls J.M. (1972) A two-stage model for the appreciation of jokes and cartoons. In G. Goldstein & P. McGhee (Eds) The Psychology of Humour (pp. 81-100). London, New York.: Academic Press.

Taranto, M. A. (1989). Facets of wisdom: A theoretical synthesis. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 29, 1-21.

Vagnoli, L., Caprilli, S., Robiglio, A. & Messeri, A. (2005). Clown doctors as a treatment for preoperative anxiety in children: A randomized, prospective study. Pediatrics, 116, 563–567.

Vaillant, G. E. (2000). Adaptive mental mechanisms: Their role in a positive psychology. American Psychologist, 55(1), 89–98.

van Laarhoven, A.I., Walker, A.L., Wilder-Smith, O.H., Kroeze, S., van Riel, P.L., van de Kerkhof, P.C., Kraaimaat, F.W. & Evers, A.W. (2012). Role of induced negative and positive emotions in sensitivity to itch and pain in women. British Journal of Dermatology, 167. 262–269.

Webster, J. D. (2003). An exploratory analysis of a self-assessed wisdom scale. Journal of Adult Development, 10, 13-2.

Webster, J.D. (2007). Measuring the Character Strength of Wisdom. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 65(2), 163-183.

Wellenzohn, S., Proyer, R.T. & Ruch, W. (2016). Humor-based online positive psychology interventions: a randomized placebo-controlled long-term trial. Journal of Positive Psychology, 11, 584–594.

Wyer, R. S., & Collins, J. E. (1992). A theory of humor elicitation. Psychological Review, 99(4), 663–688. Yue, X. D., & Hui, A. N. (2015). Humor styles, creative personality traits, and creative thinking in a Hong Kong sample. Psychological Reports, 117(3), 845-855.

Zweyer, K., Velker, B. & W., Ruch (2004). Do cheerfulness, exhilaration, and humor production moderate pain tolerance? A FACS study. Humor, 17, 67–84.

Ziv, A. (1984). Personality and sense of humour. New York: Springer.

Quest'opera è distribuita con Licenza Creative Commons Attribuzione 4.0 Internazionale