Dr Sonja Heintz
Profiles

Dr Sonja Heintz

Lecturer in Psychology

School of Psychology (Faculty of Health)

Dr Sonja Heintz can be contacted through arrangement with our Press Office, to speak to the media on these areas of expertise.
  • Psychology
  • Mental health
  • Positive psychology
  • Correlation study
  • Cross-sectional studies
  • Meta-analysis
  • Online research methods
  • Psychometrics
  • Quantitative research
  • Surveys
Biography

Biography

Lecturer in Psychology

Qualifications

  • Lecturer in Psychology, University of Plymouth, UK, 2020–
  • Senior teaching and research assistant, University of Zurich, Switzerland, 2018–2020
  • Postdoctoral researcher, University of Zurich, Switzerland, 2017–2019
  • Teaching assistant, Swiss Distance Learning University, Switzerland, 2016–2019
  • Research and teaching assistant, University of Zurich, Switzerland, 2012–2017 
  • PhD in Psychology, University of Zurich, Switzerland, 2018
  • Dipl.-Psych. (equivalent to MSc) in Psychology, Saarland University, Germany, 2012

Professional membership

  • International Society for Humor Studies (ISHS)
  • European Association of Psychological Assessment (EAPA)
  • Swiss Positive Psychology Association (SWIPPA) (founding member)
  • Association for Psychological Science (APS)
  • International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA)
  • International Society for the Study of Individual Differences (ISSID)
  • Society for the Teaching of Psychology (STP)
  • Chartered membership (CPsychol) of the British Psychological Society (BPS)

Key publications

Heintz S (2020) 'Separating Content and Structure in Humor Appreciation: A Bimodal Structural Equation Modeling Approach' Journal of Individual Differences 41, (1) 37-44 , DOI Open access
Heintz S & Ruch W (2018) 'From four to nine styles: An update on individual differences in humor' Personality and Individual Differences 141, 7-12 , DOI Open access
Heintz S, Ruch W, Platt T, Pang D, Carretero-Dios H, Dionigi A, Argüello Gutiérrez C, Brdar I, Brzozowska D & Chen H-C (2018) 'Psychometric Comparisons of Benevolent and Corrective Humor across 22 Countries: The Virtue Gap in Humor Goes International' Frontiers in Psychology 9, , DOI Open access
Ruch W, Heintz S, Platt T, Wagner L & Proyer RT (2018) 'Broadening Humor: Comic Styles Differentially Tap into Temperament, Character, and Ability' Frontiers in Psychology 9, (0) 0-0 , DOI Open access
View all publications
Teaching

Teaching

Teaching interests

I teach on personality, social psychology, psychometrics, positive psychology, and humour.

Undergraduate

  • PSYC414 Relationships
  • PSYC514 Individual Differences, Social and Developmental Psychology
  • PSYC601 Current Topics in Psychology 1
  • PSYC605 Research Project
  • Supervision of final year projects on personality, humour, and positive psychology

Postgraduate: 
  • PSYC704 Individual Differences, Social and Developmental Psychology
  • Supervision of dissertation projects on positive psychology
Research

Research

Research interests

My research interests are individual differences and psychometrics with a focus on humour and positive psychology. Specific topics include humour/comic styles, humour behaviours (e.g., humour comprehension, appreciation and production), creativity, positive personality traits, character strengths, positive emotions, and wellbeing.

Grants & contracts

  • S Heintz (2019): Travel grant for a research stay with A/Prof Luke Smillie (University of Melbourne, Australia), awarded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, Switzerland (SFR 7,100)
  • S Heintz (2018): Travel grant for a research stay with Prof William Revelle (Northwestern University, USA), awarded by the Graduate Campus, University of Zurich, Switzerland (SFR 2,500)
  • S Heintz (2016): Laughing at oneself—Does it make us happy or ill? Awarded by the “Stiftung Humor und Gesundheit” [Foundation for humour and health], Basel, Switzerland (SFR 500)

Publications

Publications

Key publications

Heintz S (2020) 'Separating Content and Structure in Humor Appreciation: A Bimodal Structural Equation Modeling Approach' Journal of Individual Differences 41, (1) 37-44 , DOI Open access
Heintz S & Ruch W (2018) 'From four to nine styles: An update on individual differences in humor' Personality and Individual Differences 141, 7-12 , DOI Open access
Heintz S, Ruch W, Platt T, Pang D, Carretero-Dios H, Dionigi A, Argüello Gutiérrez C, Brdar I, Brzozowska D & Chen H-C (2018) 'Psychometric Comparisons of Benevolent and Corrective Humor across 22 Countries: The Virtue Gap in Humor Goes International' Frontiers in Psychology 9, , DOI Open access
Ruch W, Heintz S, Platt T, Wagner L & Proyer RT (2018) 'Broadening Humor: Comic Styles Differentially Tap into Temperament, Character, and Ability' Frontiers in Psychology 9, (0) 0-0 , DOI Open access

Key publications are highlighted

Journals
Articles
Heintz S, Hofmann J, Platt T & Proyer RT (2023) 'Introduction to the “Festschrift for Willibald Ruch”' HUMOR 36, (2) 169-179 , DOI
Heintz S (2023) 'Part 1: Festschrift Commentaries' HUMOR 36, (2) 181-196 , DOI
Heintz S, Forabosco G, Dionigi A & Cioni F (2023) 'Humor comprehension and appreciation: an analysis of Italian jokes' HUMOR 36, (2) 245-262 , DOI
Linge-Dahl L, Kreuz R, Stoffelen M, Heintz S, Ruch W, von Hirschhausen E & Radbruch L (2023) 'Humour interventions for patients in palliative care—a randomized controlled trial' Supportive Care in Cancer 31, (3) , DOI Open access
Webster JD & Heintz S (2023) 'A Sage and a Guru Walk into a Bar: Wisdom and Humor Styles' International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology , DOI
Heintz S, Ruch W, Lau C, Saklofske DH & McGhee P (2022) 'Development and Validation of the Short Version of the Sense of Humor Scale (SHS-S)' European Journal of Psychological Assessment 38, (4) 320-331 , DOI
Vylobkova V, Heintz S, Gander F, Wagner L & Ruch W (2022) 'Convergence and Psychometric Properties of Character Strengths Measures: The VIA-IS and the VIA-IS-R' Journal of Personality Assessment 1-8 , DOI Open access
Vylobkova V & Heintz S (2022) 'A meeting of positive behaviors: The relations of three aspects of flexibility with character strengths' Front Psychol 13, Author Site , DOI Open access
Heintz S & Ruch W (2021) 'Cross-sectional age differences in 24 character strengths: Five meta-analyses from early adolescence to late adulthood' The Journal of Positive Psychology 1-19 , DOI Open access
Ruch W, Heintz S & Wagner L (2020) 'Co-occurrence Patterns of Character Strengths and Measured Core Virtues in German-Speaking Adults' Frontiers in Psychology 11, Publisher Site , DOI Open access
Ruch W, Heintz S, Gander F, Hofmann J, Platt T & Proyer RT (2020) 'The long and winding road: A comprehensive analysis of 50 years of Eysenck instruments for the assessment of personality' Personality and Individual Differences 110070-110070 , DOI Open access
Stahlmann AG, Hofmann J, Ruch W, Heintz S & Clifton JDW (2020) 'The higher-order structure of primal world beliefs in German-speaking countries: Adaptation and initial validation of the German Primals Inventory (PI-66-G)' Personality and Individual Differences 163, 110054-110054 , DOI Open access
Mendiburo-Seguel A & Heintz S (2020) 'Who shows which kind of humor? Exploring sociodemographic differences in eight comic styles in a large Chilean sample' Scandinavian Journal of Psychology , DOI Open access
Heintz S (2020) 'Separating Content and Structure in Humor Appreciation: A Bimodal Structural Equation Modeling Approach' Journal of Individual Differences 41, (1) 37-44 , DOI Open access
Forabosco G, Dionigi A, Cioni F & Heintz S (2020) 'Umorismo e intelligenza. Uno studio sperimentale [Humor and intelligence. An experimental study]' Rivista Italiana di Studi sull’Umorismo 3, (1) 24-35 Open access
Vylobkova V, Heintz S & Gander F (2019) 'Stärkenbasierte Interventionen in der Positiven Psychologie. [Strengths-based interventions in Positive Psychology.]' Report Psychologie 44, (11) 14-21 Open access
Ruch W & Heintz S (2019) 'On the dimensionality of humorous conduct and associations with humor traits and behaviors' HUMOR 32, (4) 643-666 , DOI Open access
Heintz S, Ruch W, Aykan S, Brdar I, Brzozowska D, Carretero-Dios H, Chen H-C, Chlopicki W, Choi I & Dionigi A (2019) 'Benevolent and Corrective Humor, Life Satisfaction, and Broad Humor Dimensions: Extending the Nomological Network of the BenCor Across 25 Countries' Journal of Happiness Studies , DOI Open access
Heintz S (2019) 'Do Others Judge My Humor Style as I Do? Self-Other Agreement and Construct Validity of the Humor Styles Questionnaire' European Journal of Psychological Assessment 35, (5) 625-632 , DOI Open access
Forabosco G, Dionigi A, Cioni F & Heintz S (2019) 'Barzellette: comprensione e divertimento. Uno studio preliminare [Jokes: comprehension and funninness. A preliminary study]' Rivista Italiana di Studi sull’Umorismo 2, (2) 90-100 Open access
Mendiburo-Seguel A & Heintz S (2019) 'Comic styles and their relation to the sense of humor, humor appreciation, acceptability of prejudice, humorous self-image and happiness' HUMOR 0, (0) , DOI Open access
Heintz S (2019) 'Locating eight comic styles in basic and broad concepts of humor: Findings from self-reports and behavior tests' Current Psychology , DOI Open access
Heintz S & Ruch W (2019) 'Character Strengths and Job Satisfaction: Differential Relationships Across Occupational Groups and Adulthood' Applied Research in Quality of Life , DOI Open access
Hofmann J, Heintz S, Pang D & Ruch W (2019) 'Differential Relationships of Light and Darker Forms of Humor with Mindfulness' Applied Research in Quality of Life , DOI Open access
Heintz S & Ruch W (2018) 'From four to nine styles: An update on individual differences in humor' Personality and Individual Differences 141, 7-12 , DOI Open access
Heintz S & Ruch W (2018) 'Can self-defeating humor make you happy? Cognitive interviews reveal the adaptive side of the self-defeating humor style' HUMOR 31, (3) 451-472 , DOI Open access
Linge-Dahl LM, Heintz S, Ruch W & Radbruch L (2018) 'Humor Assessment and Interventions in Palliative Care: A Systematic Review' Frontiers in Psychology 9, , DOI Open access
Ruch W & Heintz S (2018) 'Psychometric evaluation of the revised Sense of Humor Scale and the construction of a parallel form' HUMOR 31, (2) 235-257 , DOI Open access
Heintz S, Ruch W, Platt T, Pang D, Carretero-Dios H, Dionigi A, Argüello Gutiérrez C, Brdar I, Brzozowska D & Chen H-C (2018) 'Psychometric Comparisons of Benevolent and Corrective Humor across 22 Countries: The Virtue Gap in Humor Goes International' Frontiers in Psychology 9, , DOI Open access
Ruch W, Heintz S, Platt T, Wagner L & Proyer RT (2018) 'Broadening Humor: Comic Styles Differentially Tap into Temperament, Character, and Ability' Frontiers in Psychology 9, (0) 0-0 , DOI Open access
Ruch W, Wagner L & Heintz S (2018) 'Humor, the PEN model of personality, and subjective well-being: Support for differential relationships with eight comic styles' Rivista Italiana di Studi sull’Umorismo Open access
Heintz S, Kramm C & Ruch W (2017) 'A meta-analysis of gender differences in character strengths and age, nation, and measure as moderators' The Journal of Positive Psychology 14, (1) 103-112 , DOI Open access
Greuel A, Lewis CJ, Maier F, Dano R, Heintz S, Ruch W & Eggers C (2017) 'Assessment of humor in Parkinson's disease and the effect of deep brain stimulation' Basal Ganglia 8, 5-5 , DOI
Ruch W & Heintz S (2017) 'Experimentally Manipulating Items Informs on the (Limited) Construct and Criterion Validity of the Humor Styles Questionnaire' Frontiers in Psychology 8, , DOI Open access
Heintz S (2017) 'Putting a spotlight on daily humor behaviors: Dimensionality and relationships with personality, subjective well-being, and humor styles' Personality and Individual Differences 104, 407-412 , DOI Open access
Ruch W & Heintz S (2016) 'The German Version of the Humor Styles Questionnaire: Psychometric Properties and Overlap With Other Styles of Humor' Eur J Psychol 12, (3) 434-455 Author Site , DOI Open access
Heintz S & Ruch W (2016) 'Reply to Martin (2015): Why our conclusions hold' HUMOR 29, (1) 125-129 , DOI Open access
Ruch W & Heintz S (2016) 'The virtue gap in humor: Exploring benevolent and corrective humor' Translational Issues in Psychological Science 2, (1) 35-45 , DOI Open access
Heintz S & Ruch W (2015) 'An examination of the convergence between the conceptualization and the measurement of humor styles: A study of the construct validity of the Humor Styles Questionnaire' HUMOR 28, (4) 611-633 , DOI Open access
Kray J, Schmitt H, Heintz S & Blaye A (2015) 'Does verbal labeling influence age differences in proactive and reactive cognitive control?' Developmental Psychology 51, (3) 378-391 , DOI Open access
Ruch W, Martínez-Martí ML, Heintz S & Brouwers SA (2014) 'Short Form of the Orientations to Happiness Questionnaire for the German-Speaking Countries: Development and analysis of the psychometric properties' Swiss Journal of Psychology 73, (4) 225-234 , DOI Open access
Heintz S (2014) 'Durch dick und dünn' PiD - Psychotherapie im Dialog 14, (04) 98-100 , DOI
Ruch W & Heintz S (2013) 'Humour styles, personality and psychological well-being: What’s humour got to do with it?' European Journal of Humour Research 1, (4) 1-24 , DOI Open access
Heintz S (2013) 'Die Qual der Wahl' PiD - Psychotherapie im Dialog 14, (01) 84-88 , DOI
Unger K, Heintz S & Kray J (2012) 'Punishment sensitivity modulates the processing of negative feedback but not error-induced learning' Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 6, , DOI Open access
Chapters
Heintz S & Hofmann J (2022) 'Humor' The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible Springer International Publishing 685-691 , DOI
Heintz S & Ruch W (2021) 'Chapitre 18. Améliorer la santé par l’humour' Grand manuel de psychologie positive Dunod 349-359 , DOI
Heintz S & Hofmann J (2020) 'Humor' in Glăveanu VP The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible Palgrave Macmillan, Cham , DOI
Ruch W & Heintz S (2019) 'Humor Production and Creativity: Overview and Recommendations' Creativity and Humor Elsevier 1-42 , DOI
Ruch W & Heintz S (2019) 'Chapter 1 Humor Production and Creativity Overview and Recommendations' Creativity and Humor 1-42 , DOI
Ruch W & Heintz S (2014) 'Factor Analysis of Humor Scales' in Attardo S Encyclopedia of humor studies SAGE Publications, Inc. 228-231 , DOI
Ruch W & Heintz S (2014) 'Test Measurements of Humor' in Attardo S Encyclopedia of humor studies SAGE Publications, Inc. 759-761 , DOI
Conference Papers
Linge-Dahl L, Heintz S, Ruch W & Radbruch L (2018) 'Humorinterventionen in der Palliativmedizin: Eine Literaturübersicht' 12. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Palliativmedizin 9-/-0/20189-/-0/2018Georg Thieme Verlag KG , DOI
Personal

Personal

Conferences organised

Treasurer and member of the organising team of the 13th European Conference on Psychological Assessment (ECPA13) in Zurich, Switzerland

Links

Google Scholar profile (publications): https://scholar.google.ch/citations?user=6eKfURgAAAAJ

Scopus profile (publications): www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=56419783700

Publons profile (reviews): https://publons.com/a/1587695/