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Topic · Social Psychology

Humor Studies and Applications

Humor Studies and Applications is a research topic within Social Psychology. Science Explorer counts 9.3k research works in it since 1952. 10.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the psychological, social, and health-related aspects of humor and laughter. It covers topics such as humor styles, the impact of humor on psychological well-being, gender differences in humor perception, the use of humor as a coping mechanism, the role of humor in social interactions, and the therapeutic benefits of laughter. Additionally, it delves into the influence of internet memes and political satire on public discourse and examines the relationship between humor and various health outcomes.

  • Humor Styles Questionnaire
  • Psychological Well-being
  • Social Interaction
  • Laughter Therapy
  • Gender Differences
  • Internet Memes
  • Political Satire
  • Coping Mechanisms
  • Emotional Intelligence
  • Health Outcomes
Research works
9.3k
fractional, since 1952
In the world top 10%
950
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+28%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
29% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Humor Studies and Applications

Which countries lead Humor Studies and Applications research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (494 and 239 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 494 works
  2. 2 China 239 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 199 works
  4. 4 Türkiye 180 works
  5. 5 Indonesia 122 works
  6. 6 India 121 works
  7. 7 Germany 113 works
  8. 8 Spain 88 works
  9. 9 Australia 82 works
  10. 10 Brazil 76 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 28.8%China: 13.9%United Kingdom: 11.6%Türkiye: 10.5%6 others listed: 35.2%29%largest
United States494 · 28.8%China239 · 13.9%United Kingdom199 · 11.6%Türkiye180 · 10.5%6 others listed602 · 35.2%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Humor Studies and Applications research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Humor Studies and Applications research, followed by University of Amsterdam and University of Alicante.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 12 works
  2. 2 University of AmsterdamNetherlands 11 works
  3. 3 University of AlicanteSpain 11 works
  4. 4 University of GroningenNetherlands 10 works
  5. 5 University of NottinghamUnited Kingdom 10 works
  6. 6 KU LeuvenBelgium 9 works
  7. 7 University of TorontoCanada 9 works
  8. 8 UNSW SydneyAustralia 8 works
  9. 9 Hacettepe UniversityTürkiye 8 works
  10. 10 Sasol (Germany)Germany 7 works

Who are the leading researchers in Humor Studies and Applications?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Humor Studies and Applications include Florian Fischer, Nicholas G. Martin and Arnold B. Bakker.

  1. 1 Florian Fischer Germany 257k citations
  2. 2 Nicholas G. Martin Australia 228k citations
  3. 3 Arnold B. Bakker Netherlands 189k citations
  4. 4 Tim D. Spector United Kingdom 179k citations
  5. 5 Raymond J. Dolan United Kingdom 165k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Humor Studies and Applications?

The most cited paper in Humor Studies and Applications is "The role of transportation in the persuasiveness of public narratives." (Melanie C. Green, Timothy C. Brock, 2000), with 2,547 citations. Next come "Emotion, Regulation, and Moral Development" (2,415) and "Individual differences in uses of humor and their relation to psychological well-being: Development of the Humor Styles Questionnaire" (2,147).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The role of transportation in the persuasiveness of public narratives. Melanie C. Green, Timothy C. Brock · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2000 2,547
2 Emotion, Regulation, and Moral Development Nancy Eisenberg · Annual Review of Psychology Review Feb 2000 2,415
3 Individual differences in uses of humor and their relation to psychological well-being: Development of the Humor Styles Questionnaire Rod A. Martin, Patricia Puhlik-Doris, Gwen Larsen et al. · Journal of Research in Personality Feb 2003 2,147
4 Development of a scale to measure the trait of food neophobia in humans Patricia P. Pliner, Karen L. Hobden · Appetite Oct 1992 2,124
5 Progress on a cognitive-motivational-relational theory of emotion. Richard S. Lazarus · American Psychologist 1991 1,972
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Humor Studies and Applications research done?

The largest centres of Humor Studies and Applications research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), London (United Kingdom), Istanbul (Türkiye) and Ankara (Türkiye).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 46 works
  2. 2 LondonUnited Kingdom 35 works
  3. 3 IstanbulTürkiye 34 works
  4. 4 AnkaraTürkiye 32 works
  5. 5 MoscowRussia 30 works
  6. 6 SydneyAustralia 22 works
  7. 7 New YorkUnited States 18 works
  8. 8 ShanghaiChina 17 works
  9. 9 ParisFrance 17 works
  10. 10 AmsterdamNetherlands 17 works
See Humor Studies and Applications on the map

Where is the best place to study Humor Studies and Applications?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Amsterdam, University of Groningen and University of Toronto score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%mean 9.6875%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of Gronin…University of Amster…University of TorontoUniversity of Alicante
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of AmsterdamNetherlands 96.812.9%7.5×11 +59.5%
2University of GroningenNetherlands 88.119.9%6.1×10 +354.8%
3University of TorontoCanada 48.611.1%1.7×9 +85.4%
4University of AlicanteSpain 47.03.4%14.6×10 +33.3%
5KU LeuvenBelgium 44.59.2%3.7×9 +56.4%
6UNSW SydneyAustralia 44.213.8%3.8×8 +20.3%
7University of NottinghamUnited Kingdom 43.12.3%5.1×10 +122.1%
8Hacettepe UniversityTürkiye 26.44.9%6.6×8 +106.0%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Humor Studies and Applications, country by country

Is Humor Studies and Applications research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 28% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Humor Studies and Applications.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Humor Studies and Applications as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.011% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%0.015%Humor Studies and Applications0.012% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Humor Studies and Applications over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Humor Studies and Applications10.3% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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