Synonyms
Definition
Cheerfulness denotes an individual’s actual (as a mood state) or habitual (as a trait or temperament) disposition for amusement and laughter including seeing the bright side of life and taking adversity less seriously. Trait cheerfulness contributes to quality of life or overall well-being by enabling individuals to positive emotions and maintaining them in face of adversity, and longer lasting states of cheerfulness may be seen as element of well-being.
Description
Trait cheerfulness received theoretical and empirical attention by personality psychologists at the beginning of the last century. Meumann (1913) regarded cheerfulness as one of twelve basic temperaments equal to the well-known sanguine, choleric, or melancholic temperaments. Two dimensions were used to classify these temperaments: pleasure versus displeasure separated cheerful from (among others) serious and grumpy, and the dimension of shallow versus profound...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Brutsche, M. H., Grossman, P., Müller, R. E., Wiegand, J., Pello, B. F., Ruch, W. (2008). Impact of laughter on air trapping in severe chronic obstructive lung disease. International Journal of COPD, 3, 1–8.
Carretero-Dios. H., Eid, M, Ruch. W. (2011). Temperamental basis of sense of humor: A multilevel confirmatory factor analysis of multitrait-multimethod data. Journal of Research in Personality 45, 153–64.
Hirsch, R. D., Junglas, K., Konradt, B., Jonitz, M. F.(2010). Humor therapy in the depressed elderly results of an empirical study. Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie. 43, 42–52.
Lersch, P. (1962). Aufbau der Person [Personality structure]. München, Germany: Barth.
McGhee, P. E. (2010). Humor as survival training for a stressed-out world. The 7 humor habits program. Bloomington: Author House.
Meumann, E. (1913). Intelligenz und Wille [Intelligence and volition]. Leipzig, Germany: von Quelle & Meyer.
Papousek, I., & Schulter, G. (2008). Effects of a mood-enhancing intervention on subjective well-being and cardiovascular parameters. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine. 15, 293–302.
Papousek, I. & Schulter, G. (2010). Don't take an X for a U. Why laughter is not the best medicine, but being more cheerful has many benefits. In I. E. Wells (Ed.), Psychological well-being (pp. 1–75). Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers.
Rapp, A. M., Wild, B., Erb, M., Rodden, F. A., Ruch, W., & Grodd, W. (2008). Trait cheerfulness modulates BOLD-response in lateral cortical but not limbic brain areas - A pilot fMRI study. Neuroscience Letters, 445, 242–5.
Ruch, W. (1997). State and trait cheerfulness and the induction of exhilaration: A FACS study. European Psychologist, 2, 328–41.
Ruch, W. (2008). The psychology of humor. In V. Raskin (Ed.), A primer of humor. (p. 17–100). Berlin, Germany: Mouton de Gruyte.
Ruch, W., & Hofmann, J. (2012). A temperament approach to humor. In P. Gremigni (Ed.), Humor and Health Promotion (pp. 79–113). Hauppauge, NY USA: Nova Science Publishers.
Ruch, W., & Köhler, G. (2007). A temperamental approach to humor. In W. Ruch (Ed.), The sense of humor: Explorations of a personality characteristic. (p. 203–28). Berlin, Germany: Mouton de Gruyter.
Ruch, W., Köhler. G., & van Thriel, C. (1996). Assessing the “humorous temperament”: Construction of the facet and standard trait forms of the State-Trait-Cheerfulness-Inventory - STCI. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, 9, 303–39.
Ruch, W., Köhler, G., & van Thriel, C. (1997). To be in good or bad humor: Construction of the state form of the State-Trait-Cheerfulness-Inventory - STCI. Personality and Individual Differences, 22, 477–91.
Ruch, W., & Zweyer, K. (2001). Ergebnisse der Forschung zu Humor und Heiterkeit [Results from research on humor and cheerfulness]. In R. D. Hirsch, J. Bruder, H. Radebold, (Eds.), Heiterkeit und Humor im Alter [Cheerfulness and humor in old age] (p. 9–43). Bornheim-Sechtem: Chudeck-Druck.
Young, P. T. (1937). Laughing and weeping, cheerfulness and depression: A study of moods among college students. Journal of Social Psychology, 8, 311–34.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this entry
Cite this entry
Ruch, W. (2014). Cheerfulness. In: Michalos, A.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_311
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_311
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-0752-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-0753-5
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law