Keywords
nature; humor; well-being; restoration
Disciplines
Psychology
Abstract
We administered a questionnaire measuring contact with nature, sense of humor, and psychological well-being. Factor analysis of the humor items yielded four factors: humor production, humor appreciation, coping humor, and humor tolerance. Factor analysis of 14 well-being measures yielded three factors: emotional well-being, personal development, and effective functioning. The best sense-of-humor predictor of the well-being measures and factors was humor appreciation. Regression models for each of the well-being factors as dependent variables with humor appreciation and contact with nature as independent variables showed that additive models with both predictors were appropriate for personal development and effective functioning and that a simple model with humor appreciation as the sole predictor was sufficient for emotional well being. Secondary analyses suggested that contact with nature was the better predictor of effective functioning, whereas sense of humor was the better predictor of personal development.
ScholarWorks Citation
Herzog, Thomas R. and Strevey, Sarah J., "Contact With Nature, Sense of Humor, and Psychological Well-Being" (2008). Peer Reviewed Articles. 47.
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/psy_articles/47
Comments
Original Citation: Herzog, Thomas R., and Sarah J. Strevey. "Contact With Nature, Sense of Humor, and Psychological Well-Being." Environment and Behavior 40, no. 6 (2008): 747-776.