Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of contributors -- Preface and acknowledgments -- PART I. INTRODUCTION -- Foreword and overview. Sense of humor: A new look at an old concept -- Approaches to the sense of humor: A historical review -- PART II. CURRENT CONCEPTUAL APPROACHES -- Humor and personality in everyday life -- The sense of humor and the truth -- A two-mode model of humor appreciation: Its relation to aesthetic appreciation and simplicity-complexity of personality -- "Sense" of humor: Perception, intelligence, or expertise? -- Is sense of humor a positive personality characteristic? -- Humor and stress revisited -- A temperament approach to humor -- PART III. DIFFERENCES AMONG GROUPS -- Exploring paradigms: The study of gender and sense of humor near the end of the 20th century -- The ill side of humor: Pathological conditions and sense of humor -- The dog that didn't bark in the night: A new sociological approach to the cross-cultural study of humor -- PART IV. INTRAINDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES -- Influence of mood on humor -- Development of the sense of humor -- PART V. CAUSES OF INTER- AND INTRA-INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES -- Genetic and environmental contributions to children's interpersonal humor -- The development and evaluation of a systematic program for improving sense of humor -- Appendix: Humor measurement toots -- Bibliography -- Author index -- Subject index