The influence of a virtual companion on amusement when watching funny films

We investigated the role of a virtual companion and trait cheerfulness on the elicitation of amusement. Ninety participants watched funny films in four conditions: either alone, with a virtual companion laughing or verbally expressing amusement at fixed time points (pre-scripted), or additionally joining the participant’s laughter (responsive companion). Amusement was assessed facially and vocally by coding Duchenne Displays and laughter vocalizations. Participants’ cheerful mood pre and post the film watching and positive experience were assessed. Results showed that high trait cheerful individuals generally experienced and expressed more amusement than low trait cheerful individuals. The presence of a virtual companion (compared to being alone) led to more laughter for individuals low in trait cheerfulness. Unexpectedly, the responsive companion did not elicit more amusement than the pre-scripted companion. The general disliking of virtual companions and gelotophobia related negatively to amusement. Amusement expressing virtual companions may be used in interventions aiming at eliciting positive responses, especially for individuals with higher thresholds for amusement.European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement No. 27078

Psychometric Comparisons of Benevolent and Corrective Humor across 22 Countries: The Virtue Gap in Humor Goes International

Recently, two forms of virtue-related humor, benevolent and corrective, have been introduced. Benevolent humor treats human weaknesses and wrongdoings benevolently, while corrective humor aims at correcting and bettering them. Twelve marker items for benevolent and corrective humor (the BenCor) were developed, and it was demonstrated that they fill the gap between humor as temperament and virtue. The present study investigates responses to the BenCor from 25 samples in 22 countries (overall N = 7,226). The psychometric properties of the BenCor were found to be sufficient in most of the samples, including internal consistency, unidimensionality, and factorial validity. Importantly, benevolent and corrective humor were clearly established as two positively related, yet distinct dimensions of virtue-related humor. Metric measurement invariance was supported across the 25 samples, and scalar invariance was supported across six age groups (from 18 to 50+ years) and across gender. Comparisons of samples within and between four countries (Malaysia, Switzerland, Turkey, and the UK) showed that the item profiles were more similar within than between countries, though some evidence for regional differences was also found. This study thus supported, for the first time, the suitability of the 12 marker items of benevolent and corrective humor in different countries, enabling a cumulative cross-cultural research and eventually applications of humor aiming at the good

Apreciación del humor y dimensiones básicas de personalidad : evidencias externas de validez de la Escala de Apreciación del Humor, EAHU

El objetivo principal de este estudio ha sido obtener evidencias externas de validez de la Escala de Apreciación del Humor, EAHU. Para esto se analiza la relación entre las puntuaciones obtenidas con esta escala y las dimensiones básicas de personalidad del modelo PEN de Eysenck, y el NEO de McCrae y Costa. La muestra del estudio fue de 323 participantes con edades comprendidas entre los 18 y 76 años (177 hombres y 146 mujeres). En los resultados obtenidos puede observarse que los aspectos emocionales de la apreciación del humor (respuestas de diversión y rechazo hacia el material humorístico) estarían en general representados por los factores extraversión y neuroticismo. Mientras, los aspectos cognitivos (humor con incongruencia-resolución frente a sin sentido) se verían especialmente relacionados con el factor de apertura a la experiencia. Por último, las categorías relacionadas con los componentes motivacionales de la apreciación del humor (humor negro, sexual y de denigración sexual), estarían más relacionadas con los factores responsabilidad y amabilidad, siendo la extraversión un importante factor predictor del humor sexual. Aunque los datos encontrados son coincidentes con las predicciones efectuadas, las correlaciones y coeficientes de regresión suelen ser bajos.To obtain external validity evidences of EAHU scale is the aim of this study Relationships between EAHU scale scores and basic personality dimensions provided by Eysenck's PEN model and Costa and McRae's NEO model was analyzed with 323participants aged from 18 to 76 (177males and 146 females). Results indicated that while emotional components of humor appreciation (funniness andaversiveness answers) were related to extraversión and neuroticism, cognitive components (incongruity-resolution humor and nonsense humor) were specially related to openness to experience. Finally, motivational aspects of humor appreciation (black humor, sexual humor, and men and women disparagement humor) were related to agreeableness and conscientiousness factors, being extraversión predictor of sexual humor. Data were on line with predictions, but correlations and regression coefficients were low and that fact was considered and discussed taking into account Pelechano s theoretical model: El modelo de Parámetros

Questionnaire to Evaluate the Competency in Evidence‐Based Practice of Registered Nurses (EBP‐COQ Prof©): Development and Psychometric Validation

©2020. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This document is the Accepted version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Worldviews on Evidence-based Nursing.Background: The availability of valid and reliable instruments, based on current competency frameworks, is essential to respond to the need for accurate measurement of the competency of registered nurses in evidence-based practice (EBP). Aims: To develop and validate a questionnaire capable of measuring EBP competencies in registered nurses following the competency framework developed by Melynk et al. (2014). Methods: The study was developed in two stages: (a) creation of the questionnaire based on an operational definition of the construct, its face, and content validation by 10 experts, and cognitive piloting; (b) psychometric evaluation of the questionnaire by a cross-sectional, and multicenter study between February and November 2018. Analyses were conducted of the questionnaire’s reliability and construct validity (exploratory [EFA] and confirmatory [CFA] fac tor analyses). Results: First phase: The initial version of EBP-COQ© Prof contained 50 items grouped into four dimensions (attitudes, knowledge, skills, and utilization). After two expert validation rounds, a 35-item version was obtained with content validity index of 0.86. Second phase: The questionnaire was completed by 579 nurses; EFA with PROMAX rotation revealed that the four factor model had the best fit (χ2 = 311.32; p = .001, root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = 0.000, 90% confidence interval [CI] = 0.000 – 0.010; comparative fit index [CFI] = 1), and it showed a good CFA fit index: CFI = 0.932, and RMSEA = 0.093 (90% CI = 0.097 − 0.108). Cronbach’s α for each factor ranged from 0.817 (factor III) to 0.948 (factor II). Linking Evidence to Action: EBP-COQ Prof© is a valid, reliable, and easily administered ques tionnaire that measures the self-perceived competency of registered nurses in EBP based on an updated and specific competency framework. It permits the independent evaluation of at titudes, knowledge, and skills related to EBP and of its utilization in hospital and primary care settings, allowing the monitoring of compliance with EB