Elements of sensation seeking and their relationship with two aspects of humour appreciation—perceived funniness and overt expression

The relationship between sensation seeking and the variables of perceived funniness of humour and overt expression of humour was investigated. The Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking [AISS; Arnett, Personality and Individual differences 16 (1994) 289] and two experimental variants of the Situational Humour Response Questionnaire (Martin & Lefcourt, 1984) were administered to 186 students aged between 18 and 47 years. Results revealed that, compared to low sensation seekers, high sensation seekers reported perceiving a variety of situations as being more funny and displaying more overt expression of humour in those situations. Additionally, partial correlation analyses indicated that self-assessments of overt expression of humour were significantly related to scores on the intensity sub-scale of the AISS but not with scores on the novelty sub-scale. The situation was reversed for perceived funniness, with a significant partial correlation between scores on that sub-scale and those on the novelty sub-scale but no partial correlation between intensity and perceived funniness. It was concluded that perceiving events as being funny offered sensation seekers a novel source of stimulation and that displaying overt expression of humour offered sensation seekers an additional mode of experiencing intense stimulation.