Humor creation during efforts to find humorous cognitive reappraisals of threatening situations.

This interdisciplinary study examined the structure of humor creation in the specific context of efforts to positively reappraise stressful situations for effective coping. In a sample of n = 101 participants, a performance test was used to assess the quantity (fluency, number of generated ideas that qualified as humor) and quality (rated funniness) of humor creation in cognitive reappraisal. Linguistic mechanisms were identified and quantified using cognitive-linguistic methods of corpus analysis, and their employment was correlated with humor production performance on the level of the individual. Almost all individuals were able to come up with reappraisal ideas that qualified as humorous. Depressive symptoms, a negative mood state, and high perceptions of threat did not compromise the participants' capability to create humor. Individuals who were more serious-minded as a trait produced ideas that were rated as less funny, but their basic ability to create humor was unaffected. Metonymy (a contiguity-based principle of meaning extension) emerged as by far the most prominent semantic mechanism in the creation of humorous re-interpretations. Furthermore, its use was related to good humor creation performance in terms of quantity and quality, which is in line with its assumed importance in the extension of meaning in general and the creation of humor in particular. Further effective linguistic mechanisms and conceptual phenomena were identified. The empirical data may be valuable for the development of interventions involving the creation of humorous ideas for cognitive reappraisal.

When Gesture "Takes Over": Speech-Embedded Nonverbal Depictions in Multimodal Interaction.

The framework of depicting put forward by Clark (2016) offers a schematic vantage point from which to examine iconic language use. Confronting the framework with empirical data, we consider some of its key theoretical notions. Crucially, by reconceptualizing the typology of depictions, we identify an overlooked domain in the literature: "speech-embedded nonverbal depictions," namely cases where meaning is communicated iconically, nonverbally, and without simultaneously co-occurring speech. In addition to contextualizing the phenomenon in relation to existing research, we demonstrate, with examples from American TV talk shows, how such depictions function in real-life language use, offering a brief sketch of their complexities and arguing also for their theoretical significance.

Humorous cognitive reappraisal: More benign humour and less "dark" humour is affiliated with more adaptive cognitive reappraisal strategies.

The capacity to find humorous perspectives in aversive situations may outline a helpful strategy in the context of cognitive reappraisal. Yet, research suggested that some people produce more adaptive humour than others. At the same time, not all forms of cognitive reinterpretation seem to be unequivocally beneficial. The present study aimed to investigate specific cognitive reappraisal strategies that individuals employ in humorous reappraisal of adverse events. In a sample of 95 participants, the use of cognitive reappraisal sub-strategies was assessed in a behavioural test in which participants were required to generate a series of humorous reappraisals of self-relevant, threatening events. These reappraisal sub-strategies (three positive reinterpretation strategies, three de-emphasising strategies) were then related to the habitual use of different kinds of humour as well as the broader DSM-5 personality trait domains and well-being in terms of depressive experiences, assessed by self-report questionnaires. While no robust relationships were found for reappraisal strategies based on de-emphasising, sub-strategies within the positive reinterpretation category showed specific and contrasting associations with the examined traits. Findings indicated that the ability to produce humour is only linked to a favourable pattern of reappraisal strategies when manifested in benign forms of humour. Specific relations also emerged for the broader personality traits. The study suggests that some characteristics that advance the use of benign humour also benefit adaptive emotion regulation. The opposite seems to be true for malicious, or "dark" humour. The introduced behavioural approach to the analysis of humorous cognitive reappraisal may prove useful also in future related research.

Impact of humor-related communication elements in natural dyadic interactions on interpersonal physiological synchrony.

Evidence suggests that in dyadic conversations some alignment occurs at the physiological level, but relatively little is known about the conditions that may facilitate physiological synchrony of two interlocutors. In the present interdisciplinary study, the impact of specific linguistic features of ongoing dialogues-the use of humor-related communication elements-was examined in 24 male dyads who were meeting for the first time. Heart rate synchrony was quantified using phase synchronization, which reflects the degree of moment-to-moment adjustments that occur between the two persons of a dyad. Comical hypotheticals and verbal amplifiers were identified and quantified using cognitive-linguistic methods of corpus analysis. Additionally, smiles following these communication elements were identified using the Facial Action Coding System. The data showed that the heart rate time series of the two interlocutors were to some extent synchronized in phase, and that the magnitude of this synchronization exceeded what had to be expected by chance. The strength of heart rate synchrony in a dyad was the higher the more comical hypotheticals were produced, independently from how much the two conversation partners were in sum talking to each other. A similar observation was made for verbal amplifiers, but their effect depended on whether they were perceived (and acknowledged by a smile) as humorous. The findings are in line with the more general notion that physiological synchrony may be enhanced by shared experience and suggest that the use of (reciprocated) humor may speed up the building of rapport among communication partners.

Gazing at the partner in musical trios: a mobile eye-tracking study.

Few investigations into the nonverbal communication in ensemble playing have focused on gaze behaviour up to now. In this study, the gaze behaviour of musicians playing in trios was recorded using the recently developed technique of mobile eye-tracking. Four trios (clarinet, violin, piano) were recorded while rehearsing and while playing several runs through the same musical fragment. The current article reports on an initial exploration of the data in which we describe how often gazing at the partner occurred. On the one hand, we aim to identify possible contrasting cases. On the other, we look for tendencies across the run-throughs. We discuss the quantified gaze behaviour in relation to the existing literature and the current research design.

DSM-5 personality trait domains and withdrawal versus approach motivational tendencies in response to the perception of other people's desperation and angry aggression.

Expressions of affect communicate social messages, which trigger approach and withdrawal/avoidance motivational tendencies in the observer. The present study investigated relationships between inter-individual differences in the motivational responses to other people's affect expressions and DSM-5 personality trait domains. State-dependent, transient EEG alpha asymmetry responses provided indicators of the relative activation of withdrawal versus approach motivation in the respective social-emotional contexts. The Personality Inventory for the DSM-5 (PID-5) was used for the assessment of personality traits in a non-clinical sample. Individuals with higher levels of Antagonism showed relative activation of approach versus withdrawal motivation (as indicated by less relative right frontal activation) in response to confrontation with auditory expressions of angry aggression, whereas participants with higher levels of Detachment showed relative activation of withdrawal versus approach motivation (as indicated by greater relative right frontal activation) to the perception of other people's desperate crying.