Flexible humor styles and the creative mind: Using a typological approach to investigate the relationship between humor styles and creativity

Abstract

Previous studies have found little evidence of a link between humor styles and creativity because the typological approach to humor styles has not been applied. Therefore, our study aimed to use the typological approach to humor styles to investigate the relationship between different humor styles and creativity. Two competing hypotheses were examined: the positivity perspective suggests that positive humor endorsers are more creative, whereas the intrapersonal variability perspective suggests that general humor endorsers are more creative. A total of 1,252 Mandarin young adolescents participated in the current study. Via a cluster analysis, they were classified into 4 humor types: general humor endorser, humor denier, positive humor endorser, and negative humor endorser. Importantly, the results revealed that general humor endorsers outperformed the other 3 groups in both creative potential and creative attitudes. The findings supported the intrapersonal variability perspective of creativity: individuals who hold different or opposing elements within themselves have greater creativity. Implications for research on humor types and creativity are discussed.