Genetic and Environmental Correlations Between Trait Emotional Intelligence and Humor Styles

Abstract

This article reports the first studies to investigate the genetic and environmental components of correlations between humor styles and trait emotional intelligence. In two independent adult-twin samples, significant phenotypic correlations were found between four humor styles (affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive, and self-defeating) and five trait emotional intelligence (EI) variables (well-being, self-control, emotionality, sociability, and global trait EI). These observed phenotypic correlations were themselves found to be largely attributable to correlated genetic and correlated nonshared environmental factors.