Abstract
This survey study has five parts. In the first part two conceptual approaches to humor are characterized.
One considers "the comic" to be an umbrella concept, and humor is only one of its rather positive forms. The other comes out from the umbrella concept "humor", and distinguishes between various forms of humor including the negative ones.
Three main theories of humor are presented: theory of superiority, theory of incongruity, and a relief theory. The second part introduces humor in the elderly and draws the attention to the fact that we know relatively little about humor in old age because most research has been carried out in children, adolescents or adults in productive age.
The third part of the study describes the process of assesment of humor in the elderly. For example, within the qualitative methods, in-depth interviews with seniors or analyses of their diary antries are used.
Within quantitative methods, questionnaires are used, and this study presents the survey of seven most frequent ones applied in tne studies of humor in the elderly. In the context of mixed methods, understanding of humor in young and seniors, or understanding of humor in relatively healthy seniors and seniors after stroke are compared.
The fourth part of the study presents the Gelkopf's model on relationship between humor, treatment and cure of patients. The fifth part of the study demonstrates the options how to use humor to improve the mental state of the elderly (by means of individual or group interventions).