Humor as play: Its relationship to psychological well‐being during the course of a day

Much of the play in daily life likely occurs at times or during activities other than those commonly viewed as leisure. Humor is one form of play that appears to accompany many nonleisure activities, while also being the basis for some forms of entertainment that engage people during leisure. With the use of a humor diary and mood measures, this study examined the frequency and types of humorous experiences of university students and their relationship to psychological well‐being during a day. Mass media provided the fewest playful incidents of humor, while social interaction generated the largest number. Increases in positive moods and decreases in negative moods were associated significantly with greater numbers of incidents of humor and overt laughter. It is argued that leisure researchers should give more attention to the psychology of everyday playful behaviors, such as humor, day‐dreaming, fantasy, and make‐believe.