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Background Humor trainings have positive effects on mental health and well-being. However, studies investigating the effects of humor trainings in clinical samples are still rare. This study investigated the efficacy and feasibility of a humor training for people suffering from depression, anxiety and adjustment disorders. Methods Based on a diagnostic interview (SCID I and II), 37 people were randomized into a training ( n  = 19) or wait list control group ( n  = 18) and completed questionnaires at pre, post, and 1 month follow-up. After the training group had completed its training and evaluation measures, the wait list control group received the training and the outcomes of the group were additionally evaluated (post2 and follow-up2). Results After training, improvements in humor-related outcomes were observed for the training group, but these were relativized when compared to the wait list control group. Secondary outcomes remained unaffected by the training. In addition, the training group reported interpersonal difficulties. Within-group analyses of the wait list control group after completion of their training showed effects on almost all primary and secondary outcomes and feedback indicated a better atmosphere. Conclusions In summary, the different outcomes of the two groups are surprising and can show potential moderators of efficacy, such as interpersonal and group-specific climate variables. Since moderators of humor trainings in clinical samples have not been investigated at all, future studies should consider integrating them into their design. Trial registration The study was retrospectively registered in the German Clinical Trials Register ( DRKS00012443 ) on May 16, 2017.

Abstract Several anti-smoking campaigns have been used for decades to reduce smoking consumption. However, so far, there is no consensus regarding the effectiveness of inducing distinct emotions in reducing smoke consumption. This study tested the effects of two types of anti-smoking ads, inducing fear or humor, on emotions, perceived effectiveness, support for tobacco control policies, urges to smoke, and susceptibility to smoke. Participants (N = 108; 54 smokers) of both genders were randomly assigned to one of the two following emotion ads condition: fear (N = 52) or humor (N = 56). During exposure, the continuous flow of their emotions by self-report and physiologically was collected. Measures of ads impact on emotions, perceived effectiveness, urges and susceptibility to smoking, and support for tobacco policies were applied after exposure. The results have shown that fear ads were perceived as more effective and reduced the urges to smoke in smokers. Non-smokers were more supportive of tobacco control policies. In conclusion, this study showed that fear campaigns can reduce the urge to smoke among smokers and are perceived to be more effective. This perceived effectiveness can be partially explained by feelings of fear, regardless the other emotions it also triggers, and of the smoking status. Resumo Várias campanhas antitabágicas são usadas para reduzir o consumo de tabaco. No entanto, até ao momento não existe um consenso sobre a eficácia da indução de emoções específicas nestas campanhas. Este estudo testou os efeitos de dois tipos de campanhas antitabágicas, induzindo Medo ou Humor, nas emoções, na perceção de eficácia das campanhas, no apoio a políticas antitabágicas, no desejo de fumar, e na suscetibilidade para fumar. Os participantes (N = 108; 54 fumadores), de ambos os sexos, foram aleatoriamente distribuídos para uma das seguintes campanhas indutoras de emoções: medo (N = 52) ou humor (N = 56). Durante a exposição, registou-se o fluxo contínuo das emoções autorreportadas e as respostas fisiológicas. Após a exposição avaliou-se o impacto das campanhas nas emoções, na perceção de eficácia, nas políticas antitabágicas, no desejo e na suscetibilidade para fumar. Os resultados evidenciaram que as campanhas indutoras de medo foram percecionadas como mais eficazes e reduziram o desejo de fumar em fumadores. Políticas antitabágicas foram mais apoiadas por não fumadores. Futuramente deverá considerar-se que induzir diferentes emoções em campanhas antitabágicas pode ter efeitos distintos a nível afetivo e cognitivo, com possível relevância para a mudança comportamental.

Can a large language model produce humor? Past research has focused on anecdotal examples of large language models succeeding or failing at producing humor. These examples, while interesting, do not examine ChatGPT’s humor production abilities in ways comparable to humans’ abilities, nor do they shed light on how funny ChatGPT is to the general public. To provide a systematic test, we asked ChatGPT 3.5 and laypeople to respond to the same humor prompts (Study 1). We also asked ChatGPT 3.5 to generate humorous satirical headlines in the style of The Onion and compared them to published headlines of the satirical magazine, written by professional comedy writers (Study 2). In both studies, human participants rated the funniness of the human and A.I.-produced responses without being aware of their source. ChatGPT 3.5-produced jokes were rated as equally funny or funnier than human-produced jokes regardless of the comedic task and the expertise of the human comedy writer.

A remarkable AI can write like humans — but with no understanding of what it’s saying. A remarkable AI can write like humans — but with no understanding of what it’s saying.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (The Sisters) have engaged in health education and promotion for more than 40 years, yet their contributions remain underexplored in public health literature. This article examines the role of camp, humor, and joy in their work by drawing on primary sources from the San Francisco, California, and Boston, Massachusetts, Sisters’ archives, as well as publicly available interviews. The Sisters published one of the first safer-sex pamphlets in the United States, written by and for gay men, using camp and setting a precedent for community-led health education. Since then, they have continued to leverage public health knowledge—sourced from health professionals within their order, local health organizations, and public agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—while using camp to make it accessible, engaging, and quintessentially queer. The Sisters exemplify how serious public health initiatives can be conducted with queer pride, humor, and joy. ( Am J Public Health. 2025;115(9):1536–1544. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2025.308112 )

Humor is an important, ubiquitous phenomenon; however, seemingly disparate conditions seem to facilitate humor. We integrate these conditions by suggesting that laughter and amusement result from violations that are simultaneously seen as benign. We investigated three conditions that make a violation benign and thus humorous: (a) the presence of an alternative norm suggesting that the situation is acceptable, (b) weak commitment to the violated norm, and (c) psychological distance from the violation. We tested the benign-violation hypothesis in the domain of moral psychology, where there is a strong documented association between moral violations and negative emotions, particularly disgust. Five experimental studies show that benign moral violations tend to elicit laughter and amusement in addition to disgust. Furthermore, seeing a violation as both wrong and not wrong mediates behavioral displays of humor. Our account is consistent with evolutionary accounts of laughter, explains humor across many domains, and suggests that humor can accompany negative emotion.

The capacity to find humorous perspectives in aversive situations may outline a helpful strategy in the context of cognitive reappraisal. Yet, research suggested that some people produce more adaptive humour than others. At the same time, not all forms of cognitive reinterpretation seem to be unequivocally beneficial. The present study aimed to investigate specific cognitive reappraisal strategies that individuals employ in humorous reappraisal of adverse events. In a sample of 95 participants, the use of cognitive reappraisal sub-strategies was assessed in a behavioural test in which participants were required to generate a series of humorous reappraisals of self-relevant, threatening events. These reappraisal sub-strategies (three positive reinterpretation strategies, three de-emphasising strategies) were then related to the habitual use of different kinds of humour as well as the broader DSM-5 personality trait domains and well-being in terms of depressive experiences, assessed by self-report questionnaires. While no robust relationships were found for reappraisal strategies based on de-emphasising, sub-strategies within the positive reinterpretation category showed specific and contrasting associations with the examined traits. Findings indicated that the ability to produce humour is only linked to a favourable pattern of reappraisal strategies when manifested in benign forms of humour. Specific relations also emerged for the broader personality traits. The study suggests that some characteristics that advance the use of benign humour also benefit adaptive emotion regulation. The opposite seems to be true for malicious, or \"dark\" humour. The introduced behavioural approach to the analysis of humorous cognitive reappraisal may prove useful also in future related research.

AbstractObjectiveTo determine if using a parachute prevents death or major traumatic injury when jumping from an aircraft.DesignRandomized controlled trial.SettingPrivate or commercial aircraft between September 2017 and August 2018.Participants92 aircraft passengers aged 18 and over were screened for participation. 23 agreed to be enrolled and were randomized.InterventionJumping from an aircraft (airplane or helicopter) with a parachute versus an empty backpack (unblinded).Main outcome measuresComposite of death or major traumatic injury (defined by an Injury Severity Score over 15) upon impact with the ground measured immediately after landing.ResultsParachute use did not significantly reduce death or major injury (0% for parachute v 0% for control; P>0.9). This finding was consistent across multiple subgroups. Compared with individuals screened but not enrolled, participants included in the study were on aircraft at significantly lower altitude (mean of 0.6 m for participants v mean of 9146 m for non-participants; P<0.001) and lower velocity (mean of 0 km/h v mean of 800 km/h; P<0.001).ConclusionsParachute use did not reduce death or major traumatic injury when jumping from aircraft in the first randomized evaluation of this intervention. However, the trial was only able to enroll participants on small stationary aircraft on the ground, suggesting cautious extrapolation to high altitude jumps. When beliefs regarding the effectiveness of an intervention exist in the community, randomized trials might selectively enroll individuals with a lower perceived likelihood of benefit, thus diminishing the applicability of the results to clinical practice.

This qualitative study aims to investigate the competencies and effectiveness of humor use in workplace leadership. By exploring the elements underlying successful and unsuccessful humor use, this research offers insights into the competencies required for leaders to leverage humor effectively. Adopting a qualitative inductive approach, fifteen individual semi-structured interviews were conducted, generating a dataset of 51 critical incidents of humor use. Reflexive thematic analysis was employed to identify key themes, resulting in the identification of five central elements: Reading the context, Intention and motivation, Judgement and decision, Skillful delivery, and Understanding reactions. These elements provide a comprehensive framework for understanding humor use in the context of workplace leadership, emphasizing the importance of cognitive and emotional intelligence / competencies. The study proposes a theoretical framework based on these findings, providing the foundation of a new paradigm for understanding and measuring humor use. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of the competencies and complexities involved in using humor as a leadership tool and provides practical implications for leaders aiming to enhance their leadership effectiveness through humor.

Background: Hybrid entertainment formats combining competitive and comedic elements present opportunities to investigate factors driving audience engagement. I analyzed Taskmaster UK (2015–2023), a BAFTA-winning comedy panel show where comedians compete in creative tasks judged by a host, to quantify relationships between scoring mechanics, performer characteristics, and viewer ratings. Methods: I analyzed 154 episodes encompassing 917 tasks performed by 90 contestants, with audience reception measured through 32,607 IMDb votes. To capture scoring dynamics while avoiding intercorrelated metrics, I employed a low-dimensional representation using mean ( μ ) and variance ( σ 2 ) of score distributions. Additional methods included mixture modeling for rating distributions (tri-peak model: a 1 · δ ( 1 ) + a 10 · δ ( 10 ) + a gaussian · ( μ , σ ) ), hierarchical clustering for performance patterns, and Random Forest regression. All p -values include False Discovery Rate correction. Results: Low-dimensional scoring representation showed no significant associations with IMDb ratings ( μ : r  = −0.012, p  = 0.890; σ 2 : r  = −0.118, p  = 0.179; combined R 2  = 0.017, p  = 0.698). Contestant age emerged as the strongest predictor (39.5% ± 2.1% feature importance). Sentiment analysis identified increased awkwardness over time ( β = 0.0122 , adjusted p  = 0.0027). Clustering revealed five performance archetypes appearing consistently across series. Geometric analysis showed 38.9% (98/252) of mathematically possible scoring distributions occur in practice. Conclusions: Competitive elements provide framework while audience engagement correlates with performer characteristics and emotional content. The low-dimensional scoring analysis eliminates methodological concerns about metric intercorrelation. These findings position Taskmaster UK as a quantifiable example where secondary mechanics enable but do not determine primary value.