THE AUTHOR

Paul McGhee, PhD, is a psychologist, and is one of the world’s foremost authorities on the benefits of building more humor and laughter into your life. He is internationally known for his own humor research, having spent 20 years conducting research on humor and laughter while teaching at the university level. He has published 17 books on humor, along with many scientific articles and chapters in edited books on the topic. This Humor Training was previously referred to as the 7 Humor Habits Program or 7HHP (McGhee, 2010). It is now called the Coping Humor Training Program. It was the first research-based program designed to boost your ability to cope using your sense of humor. Its effectiveness has been documented on three continents.

Dr. McGhee resigned from his full professor post to work full time as a professional speaker in 1990. He has provided keynotes and workshops on humor in 11 countries. For the next 30 years, his keynotes and workshops were most often for corporate and healthcare organizations. These presentations are currently restricted to early childhood educators. He was long at the cutting edge of the movement to bring a lighter attitude to the workplace, while maintaining high standards of competence and professionalism. His keynotes most commonly focused on how keeping your sense of humor provides the emotional resilience required to work effectively (and provide quality care in healthcare settings) in the midst of mounting work demands and job-related stress. Workshops (based on the Training presented in this book) focused on learning to use humor to cope with stress.

Dr. McGhee’s work has been featured in The New York Times, USA Today, Newsweek, Scientific American Mind, GEO (in Europe), and many other American and European magazines and newspapers. He has also been featured on the Learning Channel, National Public Radio, PBS television, and other American and European television and radio programs. He has received lifetime achievement awards from Oakland University, the Assn. for Applied and Therapeutic Humor and the International Society for Humor Studies. A special issue of International Journal of Humor Research (a “Festschrift”) was published in 2018 honoring his lifetime of humor research.