Alberto Dionigi
Biographic Data
| ID | 659548 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alberto Dionigi |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alberto |
| FAMILY NAME | Dionigi |
| SIGNATURE | DIONIGI A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Macerata |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2361-8850 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 17 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Exploring the Cognitive Dimensions of Laughter: The Interplay Between Humor and Metacognition
Humor and metacognition are complex, interrelated components of human cognition. Humor involves cognitive flexibility and social expression, while metacognition refers to awareness and regulation of one's thought processes. Understanding their interaction offers a novel perspective on mental functioning. This study assessed how specific psychological categories of humor are expressed and perceived, namely the comic styles (fun, benevolent humor, …
Caring with Humor: How Cognitive Flexibility Enhances Humor and Playfulness in Clown Doctors
Despite the growing interest in healthcare clowning and its effectiveness across various settings, there has been a lack of research exploring specific features of clown doctors, such as their humor styles, playfulness, and cognitive flexibility (CF). This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the relationships between these three variables in a sample of 210 Italian clown doctors. Participants completed a brief demographic questionnaire, th…
Humor and Attachment: Exploring the Relationships between Insecure Attachment and the Comic Styles
In this study, the relationship between individuals’ insecure attachment styles and eight comic styles was explored. A sample of 636 Italian adults (206 males, 428 females, 2 non-binary), aged 18 to 81 years (M = 41.44; DS = 13.44) completed an online survey to investigate the relationship between insecure attachment styles, namely anxious and avoidant, and the eight comic styles, clustered into lighter style (fun, benevolent humor, wit, nonsense…
Humor comprehension and appreciation: An analysis of Italian jokes
Humor comprehension and appreciation are two basic domains of humor research and central stages in humor processing. In the present study, 238 Italian adults rated 20 jokes to investigate how a humor comprehension task influences subsequent funniness ratings. Additionally, the relationships between humor comprehension and funniness were investigated for the total set of jokes, for individual jokes, and for jokes with different contents (neutral o…
Humor and personality: Psychometric properties of the Italian version of the comic styles markers and its relationships with the big five personality traits
How the parents perceive the work of hospital clowns in the context of bereavement: A qualitative study
International audience
Associations of Self-Efficacy, Optimism, and Empathy with Psychological Health in Healthcare Volunteers
Optimism and self-efficacy have been associated with psychological health. Empathy has also been found to have a unique role in community health volunteering and promote positive functioning. This study investigated whether self-efficacy and optimism were associated with psychological health in terms of psychological and subjective well-being in healthcare volunteers. It also investigated whether empathy added to the explanation of psychological …
Highly sensitive persons, caregiving strategies and humour: The case of Italian and Israeli medical clowns
The medical clown is a healthcare practitioner whose character is strictly associated with the performer’s own personality. In this study, the relationships between level of sensory processing sensitivity (SPS), caregiving strategies and humour in Italian and Israeli clowns were compared. Participants were 159 medical clowns (97 Italian and 62 Israeli), ranging from 22 to 74 years of age, who completed a demographic questionnaire, the self-report…
The relationship between, burnout, personality, and emotional intelligence in clown doctors
Despite increasing interest in healthcare clowning, especially to evaluate its effectiveness in a large variety of settings, no investigations have been oriented toward exploring the potential risks associated with burnout in clown doctors. This paper aims to investigate the relationship between personality traits, emotional intelligence, and burnout and to predict the burnout levels of 160 Italian clown doctors. The multiple linear regression fi…
The use of humor by therapists and clients in cognitive therapy
The purpose of this study was to investigate several aspects of humour in cognitive therapy. Eight first therapy sessions were examined and seven examples of humour originating from the therapists or the clients are reported: three represent examples of humour initiated by the client, while four are representative of humour initiated by the therapist. This research focuses on the use of humour in psychotherapy and provides evidence that when the …
The role of laughter in cognitive-behavioral therapy: Case studies
This study reports an analysis using the conversation analytical (CA) approach of the use of laughter within a corpus of cognitive therapy sessions. The results relating to eight first encounter sessions reveal that a client’s laughter may accompany disagreement as well as agreement with the therapist. In both cases, the therapist does not reciprocate the client’s laughter and replies by investigating the client in question’s condition, and this …
Marcello Cesa-Bianchi, Giovannantonio Forabosco, Carlo Cristini, Giovanni Cesa-Bianchi, and Alessandro Porro: Umorismo, creatività e invecchiamento
Humor understanding and knowledge
According to the cognitive approach to humour, understanding of humorous texts implies a moment of surprise, even confusion of thought, produced by the recognition of an incongruity, defined as an incoherent piece of the text. The problem solving activity involved in humor understanding aims at resolving the incongruity. Our goal is to contribute to better define the surprise experience by describing its epistemic and evidential aspects. The test…
Clown intervention to reduce preoperative anxiety in children and parents: A randomized controlled trial
This study investigated whether a clown doctor intervention could reduce preoperative anxiety in children hospitalized for minor surgery and in their parents. A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 77 children and 119 parents: the clown group consisted of 52 children accompanied in the preoperating room by their parents ( n = 89) and two clowns while the comparison group consisted of children accompanied by the parents only. The clown i…
Components and determinants of the shift between own persona and the clown persona: A hierarchical analysis
Working in health settings as a clown requires the ability to differentiate between the own persona and the clown persona and to stay in the role, despite a variety of challenging situations. This passage requires a cognitive shift that can be interfered with, or facilitated, by several variables. This study aims at operationalising the components involved in the shift and relating them to psychological characteristics and other relevant aspects …
Clown intervention to reduce preoperative anxiety in children and parents: A randomized controlled trial
This study investigated whether a clown doctor intervention could reduce preoperative anxiety in children hospitalized for minor surgery and in their parents. A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 77 children and 119 parents: the clown group consisted of 52 children accompanied in the preoperating room by their parents ( n = 89) and two clowns while the comparison group consisted of children accompanied by the parents only. The clown i…
Highly sensitive persons, caregiving strategies and humour: The case of Italian and Israeli medical clowns
The medical clown is a healthcare practitioner whose character is strictly associated with the performer’s own personality. In this study, the relationships between level of sensory processing sensitivity (SPS), caregiving strategies and humour in Italian and Israeli clowns were compared. Participants were 159 medical clowns (97 Italian and 62 Israeli), ranging from 22 to 74 years of age, who completed a demographic questionnaire, the self-report…
Humor comprehension and appreciation: An analysis of Italian jokes
Humor comprehension and appreciation are two basic domains of humor research and central stages in humor processing. In the present study, 238 Italian adults rated 20 jokes to investigate how a humor comprehension task influences subsequent funniness ratings. Additionally, the relationships between humor comprehension and funniness were investigated for the total set of jokes, for individual jokes, and for jokes with different contents (neutral o…
The relationship between, burnout, personality, and emotional intelligence in clown doctors
Despite increasing interest in healthcare clowning, especially to evaluate its effectiveness in a large variety of settings, no investigations have been oriented toward exploring the potential risks associated with burnout in clown doctors. This paper aims to investigate the relationship between personality traits, emotional intelligence, and burnout and to predict the burnout levels of 160 Italian clown doctors. The multiple linear regression fi…
The role of laughter in cognitive-behavioral therapy: Case studies
This study reports an analysis using the conversation analytical (CA) approach of the use of laughter within a corpus of cognitive therapy sessions. The results relating to eight first encounter sessions reveal that a client’s laughter may accompany disagreement as well as agreement with the therapist. In both cases, the therapist does not reciprocate the client’s laughter and replies by investigating the client in question’s condition, and this …
Components and determinants of the shift between own persona and the clown persona: A hierarchical analysis
Working in health settings as a clown requires the ability to differentiate between the own persona and the clown persona and to stay in the role, despite a variety of challenging situations. This passage requires a cognitive shift that can be interfered with, or facilitated, by several variables. This study aims at operationalising the components involved in the shift and relating them to psychological characteristics and other relevant aspects …
Components and determinants of the shift between own persona and the clown persona: A hierarchical analysis
Working in health settings as a clown requires the ability to differentiate between the own persona and the clown persona and to stay in the role, despite a variety of challenging situations. This passage requires a cognitive shift that can be interfered with, or facilitated, by several variables. This study aims at operationalising the components involved in the shift and relating them to psychological characteristics and other relevant aspects …
Humor understanding and knowledge
According to the cognitive approach to humour, understanding of humorous texts implies a moment of surprise, even confusion of thought, produced by the recognition of an incongruity, defined as an incoherent piece of the text. The problem solving activity involved in humor understanding aims at resolving the incongruity. Our goal is to contribute to better define the surprise experience by describing its epistemic and evidential aspects. The test…
Clown intervention to reduce preoperative anxiety in children and parents: A randomized controlled trial
This study investigated whether a clown doctor intervention could reduce preoperative anxiety in children hospitalized for minor surgery and in their parents. A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 77 children and 119 parents: the clown group consisted of 52 children accompanied in the preoperating room by their parents ( n = 89) and two clowns while the comparison group consisted of children accompanied by the parents only. The clown i…
Marcello Cesa-Bianchi, Giovannantonio Forabosco, Carlo Cristini, Giovanni Cesa-Bianchi, and Alessandro Porro: Umorismo, creatività e invecchiamento
The use of humor by therapists and clients in cognitive therapy
The purpose of this study was to investigate several aspects of humour in cognitive therapy. Eight first therapy sessions were examined and seven examples of humour originating from the therapists or the clients are reported: three represent examples of humour initiated by the client, while four are representative of humour initiated by the therapist. This research focuses on the use of humour in psychotherapy and provides evidence that when the …
The role of laughter in cognitive-behavioral therapy: Case studies
This study reports an analysis using the conversation analytical (CA) approach of the use of laughter within a corpus of cognitive therapy sessions. The results relating to eight first encounter sessions reveal that a client’s laughter may accompany disagreement as well as agreement with the therapist. In both cases, the therapist does not reciprocate the client’s laughter and replies by investigating the client in question’s condition, and this …
The relationship between, burnout, personality, and emotional intelligence in clown doctors
Despite increasing interest in healthcare clowning, especially to evaluate its effectiveness in a large variety of settings, no investigations have been oriented toward exploring the potential risks associated with burnout in clown doctors. This paper aims to investigate the relationship between personality traits, emotional intelligence, and burnout and to predict the burnout levels of 160 Italian clown doctors. The multiple linear regression fi…
Associations of Self-Efficacy, Optimism, and Empathy with Psychological Health in Healthcare Volunteers
Optimism and self-efficacy have been associated with psychological health. Empathy has also been found to have a unique role in community health volunteering and promote positive functioning. This study investigated whether self-efficacy and optimism were associated with psychological health in terms of psychological and subjective well-being in healthcare volunteers. It also investigated whether empathy added to the explanation of psychological …
Highly sensitive persons, caregiving strategies and humour: The case of Italian and Israeli medical clowns
The medical clown is a healthcare practitioner whose character is strictly associated with the performer’s own personality. In this study, the relationships between level of sensory processing sensitivity (SPS), caregiving strategies and humour in Italian and Israeli clowns were compared. Participants were 159 medical clowns (97 Italian and 62 Israeli), ranging from 22 to 74 years of age, who completed a demographic questionnaire, the self-report…
Humor and personality: Psychometric properties of the Italian version of the comic styles markers and its relationships with the big five personality traits
How the parents perceive the work of hospital clowns in the context of bereavement: A qualitative study
International audience
Humor and Attachment: Exploring the Relationships between Insecure Attachment and the Comic Styles
In this study, the relationship between individuals’ insecure attachment styles and eight comic styles was explored. A sample of 636 Italian adults (206 males, 428 females, 2 non-binary), aged 18 to 81 years (M = 41.44; DS = 13.44) completed an online survey to investigate the relationship between insecure attachment styles, namely anxious and avoidant, and the eight comic styles, clustered into lighter style (fun, benevolent humor, wit, nonsense…
Humor comprehension and appreciation: An analysis of Italian jokes
Humor comprehension and appreciation are two basic domains of humor research and central stages in humor processing. In the present study, 238 Italian adults rated 20 jokes to investigate how a humor comprehension task influences subsequent funniness ratings. Additionally, the relationships between humor comprehension and funniness were investigated for the total set of jokes, for individual jokes, and for jokes with different contents (neutral o…
Exploring the Cognitive Dimensions of Laughter: The Interplay Between Humor and Metacognition
Humor and metacognition are complex, interrelated components of human cognition. Humor involves cognitive flexibility and social expression, while metacognition refers to awareness and regulation of one's thought processes. Understanding their interaction offers a novel perspective on mental functioning. This study assessed how specific psychological categories of humor are expressed and perceived, namely the comic styles (fun, benevolent humor, …
Caring with Humor: How Cognitive Flexibility Enhances Humor and Playfulness in Clown Doctors
Despite the growing interest in healthcare clowning and its effectiveness across various settings, there has been a lack of research exploring specific features of clown doctors, such as their humor styles, playfulness, and cognitive flexibility (CF). This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the relationships between these three variables in a sample of 210 Italian clown doctors. Participants completed a brief demographic questionnaire, th…
Psychology (13 works) · Social Psychology (11 works) · Humor Studies and Applications (9 works) · Social Psychology (6 works) · Cognition (5 works) · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition (5 works) · Clinical Psychology (4 works) · Cognitive psychology (4 works) · Medicine (4 works) · Psychotherapist (4 works)