The effects of humor styles and various personality traits on creativity

The relationship between humor and creativity is assumed to be an indirect relationship in the literature. The effect of direct exposure to humor on creativity has been the subject of very few studies. Previous studies have generally remained on the theoretical basis and focused on the impact of creativity in humor production. In addition, many studies have reported that humor and creativity vary depending on individual differences. In the present study, the two experiments were conducted to investigate the direct effect of humor on creativity and the role of personality traits in this effect. In the first experiment of the study, the images of various humor styles (self-defeating humor vs. self-enhancing humor) were presented to the participants. The participants in different conditions examining these visuals were then asked to generate ideas about how many different ways they could use a cup of water in their creativity task. As a result of the experiment, it was found that exposure to cartoons increased creativity compared to the control group. In addition, the moderator roles of openness to experience and extraversion on the effect of humor styles on creativity were evident. It was found that the humor styles which not correlated with particular personality traits enhanced the effect of these personality traits on creativity. In the second experiment, the extraversion trait and humor styles were manipulated. In this experiment, in which similar methods in the first experiment were applied, the findings of the first experiment were repeated. Furthermore, for the introverted individuals, the extraversion-related cartoons were found to increase creativity, whereas, these cartoons were found to reduce creativity for the extraverted individuals. The results of the study shed light on the gap between the humor and creativity in the literature. Besides, it is one of the unique studies concerning the manipulation of humor styles. It also has some practical implications for subsequent studies.