Humorless or humor-friendly religion? Psychological theory and research
(2024) De Gruyter handbook of humor studies — ISBN: [9783110755732], 575-593, published
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- The presence and function of humor within religions and religious texts, as well as the historical, often tense, relationships between religion and humor (humor targeting religion, religion questioning humor’s positivity), have been a fascinating object of research across humanities and social sciences. This chapter adopts a psychological perspective and examines, based on both theory and thorough review of considerable empirical research in the last 20 years, the following question: What is today, in people’s everyday life, the role of religion and individual religiosity on the use and appreciation of humor in general and specific humor styles in particular? Research reviewed here includes studies with various methodologies (surveys, experiments, self- and peer-ratings, behavioral measures) providing convergent evidence across countries, mostly from Europe and the Americas. Overall, both humor and religion constitute ways of self-transcendence. However, religion restricts the expression of, certainly, the – well-present in life ⎯ tendentious humor styles (transgressing social conventions and moral norms) and, occasionally to some extent, also of positive, adaptive humor. Inversely, humor diminishes religious and moral concerns. Cognitive, emotional, social, moral, and self-concept-related psychological explanations are presented. Future research should investigate the cross-religious generalizability of these findings and the costs and benefits of seriousness and humor’s moralization.
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Saroglou, V. (2024). Humorless or humor-friendly religion? Psychological theory and research. In T. E. Ford, W. Chlopicki, & G. Kuipers (ed.), De Gruyter handbook of humor studies (pp. 575-593). De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110755770-034