ABSTRACT
Positive psychologists are concerned with factors that allow individuals to experience a high-quality life, one that makes life satisfying, fulfilling, desirable, and worth living. Researchers working from the positive psychology perspective focus on happiness, subjective well-being, wisdom, and intuition. As a character strength, humor is a virtue that relates to gratitude, hope, appreciation of beauty, and religiousness. Researchers find that humor improves our feelings of well-being and life satisfaction. In addition, humor functions as a playful way to correct others and serves social justice. Evidence suggests that activities (interventions) aimed to increase our sense of humor may increase happiness and other positive outcomes (such as lowering anxiety or depression).
