Emotional intelligence as a unique predictor of individual differences in humour styles and humour appreciation

• A new measure of humour appreciation (AVHAM) is described.
• The AVHAM is shown to have convergent validity with the HSQ and good reliability.
• EI is associated uniquely with 3 humour styles controlling for SDR and personality.
• Extraversion is positively correlated with both humour styles and appreciation.

A small amount of research to-date has examined the association between emotional intelligence (EI) and humour styles, however, none of this research has controlled for the effects of personality and socially desirable responding. Furthermore, none of the research has examined the possible associations with humour appreciation, as distinct from humour styles. Thus, a novel audio-visual humour appreciation measure (AVHAM) was developed based on responses to ostensibly humorous video clips. The AVHAM was found to be associated with factorial validity, as three, positively correlated factors emerged (aggressive, children, and animals). Additionally, convergent validity was observed for the AVHAM, as theoretically consistent and moderately sized correlations were observed between the AVHAM and the Humour Styles Questionnaire (HSQ). Finally, incremental predictive validity was found to be associated with self-reported EI and humour styles, but not humour appreciation. The results are discussed in light of the distinction between humour styles and humour appreciation, as well as the unique role of EI in understanding individual differences in humour.