Satisfaction With Life Of Students With A High Sense Of Humor

Abstract

The phenomenon of humor is aimed at the exposing personal and professional abilities of a person, to adapt and interact with the world and himself, but this phenomenon does not always appear as the solution to the actual life problems of human. The psychological nature, structure and the formation of the “self-concepts” remain unknown. In early adulthood it becomes important , becouse the system of abilities and self-worth forms. Humor is a component of optimism. The study involved methods such as “Purpose-in-Life” test, “Personal differences”, questionnaire of J.Rotter’s “Locus of Control Scale”, “Situational Humor Response Questionnaire” “The coping humor scale” by R. Martin. It was discovered that optimistic students estimate their emotionally rich (r = 0.684, p = 0.01), process of life to be interesting and meaningful (r = 0.435, p = 0.001), purposeful behavior (r = 0.885, p = 0.001); they have sufficient freedom of choice; adequate self-esteem (r = 0.669, p = 0.01); socially desirable characteristics (r = 0.768, p = 0.01) and have a high level of self-control (r = 0.576, p = 0.01). The study that the use of humor is determined by self-concepts of students , life orientation, and complements based on the data determined by foreign scientists. Results of the work can be used in practical work with students, in development of technology for student learning.

Keywords:

Introduction

Currently, at the present stage of development of the science and society priority should be humanitarian studies aimed at exploring the adaptive capacity of the human, and resources that aid their professional and personal achievement.

The phenomenon of optimism in the scientific literature researched is not complete, not always aimed at solving real-life problems of the people (Posokhova, 2009). The psychological nature, structure and relationship of “self-esteem” with other mental formations, not been studied. The optimistic view of the world determines the perception of the world and it is a vector of human behavior (Kothe de Vries 2009). Humor has been considered as a component of optimism, (Posokhova, 2009). According to the author, humor allows you to identify a discrepancy between the expected behavior and perfect actions, between established self-esteems and actual behavior, and thus actualizing laughter and positive emotions. Thus, we achieve an adaptive interaction between man and the surrounding world Tsivilskaya, 2015. Adverse events appear in a very different, less tragic light.

Problem Statement

Humor is often a means of preserving self-esteem, feelings of superiority, maintaining group cohesion and morale, hope, especially in stressful, critical situations (Martin 2003). He is considered by the author as an important mechanism for the regulation of emotions contributes to the promotion of mental health (Fredrickson 2001). The use of humor in management, education and advertising were studied Ivanova (2006).

The indicators of the scale of humor in the works of Artemieva (2013) showed a positive relationship with with high adaptabilities to the environment, focus on the surrounding people, self-confidence and sociability. Study participants with high values on the scale of humor were more sociable , active, independent, self-confident in various difficult situations.

Humor and laughter provides additional opportunities for optimism.and attractive for communication. Ability to understand the jokes and sense of humor are a sign of mental health, a high level of intelligence. Witty ideas and suggestions are highly valued in society and science and communication. A positive impact on the development of communicative skills and creative abilities having the ability to perceive the outside world not in a serious way. And standardization of life and excessive seriousness causes of neurotic person. A symptom of personal or intellectual dysfunction according to Martin may be the loss of the ability to understand comic (2009).

Personal attitude to one’s own actions, the formation of positive or negative system of self-concepts, the actions of others, and the system of life orientations (Rogers, 2001, 2013). In early adulthood, representation of the person about himself, his "I" concept. It is very important that the person formed a positive self-esteem, self-acceptance, self-esteem, a sense of self-worth (Nigmatullina, 2015, Kolyadin, 2005).

Research Questions

We assumed that students able actively use humor in different situations and to understand humor and have a more stable and harmonious self-concept and higher level of self-esteem.

Purpose of the Study

Objective of our research was to study experimentally self-concept of students and the characteristic of the sense of humor and and to identify the relationship between these indicators .

Research Methods

In research took part students of Kazan Federal University, 50 students from the age of 19-22 years, 15 boys and 35 girls. Participation in the study was on voluntary basis.

Materials

• “Subjective Control Level” by E.F. Bazhin, L.M. Etkind , E.A. Golynkin. It helps to determine the degree of person’s responsibility for her/his actions and life. The technique allows to assess the level of subjective control participants (Rean, 2001).

• The method of personal differences allows you to identify the relationship between subjects’ attitude to themselves or to others (Fetiskin, 2002).

• Methodology R. Martin designed to identify the frequency of use of humor in critical situations (Artemyeva, 2013, Martin, 1996).

• A questionnaire measuring situational humor R. Martin reveals the response of students in different situations (Martin, 1996 )

Findings

Orientation of students in the life. Method “Purpose-life orientation” allowed to reveal the degree of both life meaningfulness, life goals, and responsibility for the own life. The results obtained are shown in

Indicators on a scale of “purpose in life” scale reflect the absence or presence of future goals in the test subject’s life, which make give it orientation and time perspective ,life meaningful.

The content of the scale “Life interest or process is determined by the richness of life's emotions.. The indicators on the scale of "self-realization satisfaction" allowed to estimate the level of meaningfulness and productivity of life.

Indicators on a scale of "Locus of control" express the views of the students as a strong personality, able to build a life in accordance with their own goals.

Thus, the results suggest that majority of the sampled students were goal-oriented. The students sought to control their decisions in life, estimated life is as rich and interesting.

Participants with an average level of life-purpose orientations experienced dissatisfaction with their lives, had weakly defined life purpose, showed no desire to control and plan the events of his life .

Own assessment of volitional an d personal aspects o f the students’ individua l

To study volitional aspects of the individual, the self-assessment, and extraversion/introversion, we used the method of "personal differences" (Table 2 .)

Results of the study indicate that majority of students experienced a critical attitude to themselves, and were not always able to keep a standard line of conduct. The subjects experienced positive emotional reactions, orientation to the inner world.Among them are not identified students with neurotic problems.

The level of self-control subjects

Using the technique was identified level of control students over the events of life, the degree of acceptance of responsibility for actions in life (Table 03 ).

30% of test subjects did not associate your actions with important events of life, considering the incident a result of the case, the behavior of other people. The achievement of these students is associated with external circumstances, they attributed their successes , good fortune, or assistance of other people. 52% of test subjects make no effort to preserve their health, believing that the doctors will be able to help them.

The use of humor subjects .

Using techniques SHRQ and coping humor revealed that 56% of students use humor in situations. They believe that humor is effective in interpersonal relationships, helps to reduce the stress.

The relationship between humor and indicators of the "I concept" of students ( Tab. 4 ).

Conclusion

Most of students had an internal control over important events in their lives. Students believe that most of the events in their lives were results of their own actions, and that they could control them and, therefore, took the responsibility for the events of his life. The students of Kazan University was dominated by the subjective control of emotionally charged life events.

The study revealed that more than 50 % of the students actively used humor in life and activities. Believing that humor is effective in relationships with peers, helps to relieve tension in difficult situations. Similar results were obtained in studies Artemyeva (2013).

The study established a link between attitudes to life and the frequency of student use of humor in stressful situations. Those individuals who actively use humor tend to have goals in life, find meaning in the events of life, their life is filled with interest. They are freedom of choice and focus.

Revealed the close relationship between all the indicators methodology "Personal differential" and the use of humor. Students with a high level of humor revealed adequate self-esteem, they usually have a higher level of self-control. Similar results were obtained in the research of Martin (2003, 2009, 2010): students actively use humor as a rule had external orientation.

The study established that there is a connection between the use of humor and level of control of students, their degree of responsibility. It was revealed that students with a high level of use of humour to actively control the events of his life. According to N. Kuiper and R. Martin, students, people with high levels of optimism have a more stable, positive, balanced and realistic assessment of their actions (Martin, 2003; Akhmetzyanova, 2015, Ivanova, 2002).

Overall, the study confirmed the hypothesis that there is a close relationship between humour and assessments and needs of the students. Students using humor under stress, in intense situations tend to actively use them in all situations, have an adequate assessment and a high level of control.

Promising is the study of gender and age characteristics of the use of humor, the empirical research directed on studying of professional characteristics, value orientations of students prefer positive behaviour strategies.

Acknowledgments

I express my deep gratitude to the students who participated in this study.

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