State-Trait-Cheerfulness Inventory

Authors: Willibald Ruch, Gabriele Kohler, & Christoph van Thriel

WHAT THE QUESTIONNAIRE MEASURES

The State-Trait-Cheerfulness-Inventory (STCI) is a self-report instrument measuring the three concepts of cheerfulness, seriousness, and bad mood as both states (STCI-S) and traits (STCI-T). They are 20 and 10 items per scale in the STCI-T and STCI-S, respectively, and both parts utilize a 4-point answer format (strongly disagree to strongly agree).

The concepts are considered to assess the temperamental basis of humor and the scales have been validated in a variety of studies. The trait part is reliable and state part is sensitive to change. The traits are disposition for the activation of the homologous states and it has been demonstrated that trait cheerfulness is not only predictor for getting in a cheerful mood more easily (threshold in), experience that state more strongly, and remain in that state longer, even under adverse circumstances (i.e., of the phenomenon of "keeping" or "losing one's humor"). The state and state versions of the inventory take approximately 10 and 5 minutes to complete, respectively.

KEY REFERENCES
  1. Ruch, W., Kohler, G. & van Thriel (1996). Assessing the "humorous temperament": Construction of the facet and standard trait forms of the State-Trait-Cheerfulness-Inventory - STCI. In W. Ruch (Ed.), Measurement of the sense of humor [special issue]. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, 9, 303-339.
  2. Ruch, W., Kohler, G. & van Thriel (1997). To be in good or bad humor: Construction of the state form of the State-Trait-Cheerfulness-Inventory - STCI. Personality and Individual Differences, 22, 477-491.
  3. Ruch, W. & Kohler, G. (1998). A temperament approach to humor. In: W. Ruch (Ed.), The sense of humor: Explorations of a personality characteristic. (Humor Research Series, vol. 3). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 203-230.
  4. Ruch, W. & Carrell, A. (1998). Trait cheerfulness and the sense of humor. Personality and Individual Differences, 24, 551-558.
  5. Ruch, W. (1997). State and trait cheerfulness and the induction of exhilaration. European Psychologist, 2, 328-341.
E-MAIL CONTACT INFORMATION

Willibald Ruch, Ph.D.: willibald.ruch@bluewin.ch