Humour and laughter are innate, universal human experiences that are present across allcultures and have important cognitive, emotional, and social functions. The term ‘humour’refers to things that people say or do that are considered funny and make other people laugh.Researchers proposed various theories to explain what we consider funny and groupingmodels were invented that enable the categorisation of different humour types, of whichthe most widely accepted is the Humour Styles Questionnaire. Humour has long beenconsidered an effective way of coping with distress and anxiety, but research shows thatcompared to dark (negative) humour, light (positive) humour proved to be more effectivefor downregulating negative emotions. The purpose of this study was to explore theconnection between different types of humour, cartoon humour preference and experiencedanxiety. The data for the research were accumulated via a self-report online questionnairefilled out by 200 participants (Mage =25.5) from a multicultural background with an agerange of 18 to 74 years. Apart from measuring their humour styles and trait anxiety,participants were also asked to watch short light- and dark-humoured cartoon scenes andreport their experienced level of state anxiety before watching the videos and after eachsection.Firstly, the research revealed that those participants who showed a preference for Self-defeating humour had higher reported trait anxiety, while those who engaged in Affiliativehumour reported lower trait anxiety. There was no significant relationship between traitanxiety and either Self-enhancing or Aggressive humour styles. Secondly, it was found thatthe reported state anxiety of subjects was significantly lower after watching the lighthumour cartoon section than before the videos and after watching the dark humour cartoonblock. Altogether, it can be stated that our experiment results on the different types ofhumour and anxiety mostly aligned with the findings of previous scientific research on thetopic. At the end of the paper, the limitations of the study are presented, and we alsoprovided some implications for further research.

Effective communication is essential for professional practice, yet medical curricula rarely incorporate systematic, performance-based training. The Sell Yourself!—Presentation Techniques course was developed to address this gap through a two-day, practice-oriented program integrating rhetorical training, evolutionary psychology, and structured peer feedback. We examined anonymized institutional evaluations from 450 medical students using descriptive statistics and combined inductive–deductive thematic and content coding to gauge the perceived educational utility of the course. The course received a mean satisfaction rating of 9.6/10, with approximately 74% of students assigning the maximum score. Inductive analysis identified interactivity (143 mentions), practical usefulness (76), feedback and improvement (75), positive atmosphere (51), instructor quality (47), and multimedia examples (37) as key strengths, while critiques primarily concerned breaks and scheduling (62), course length and intensity (59), and smaller concerns regarding feedback processes, content structure, and technical issues. Deductive coding indicated perceived improvements across five predefined dimensions: increased confidence, rhetorical fluency, feedback quality, peer recognition, and cultural inclusivity. Structured rhetorical training appears to be well received by learners and may provide a feasible model for embedding communication competence in medical education. These findings also offer a transferable template for integrating performance-based communication training into other programs. However, conclusions are limited by reliance on self-reported perceptions and the absence of a control group or direct assessment of applied communication outcomes.

Háttér és célkitűzések: A magyar középiskolai felvételi „high-stakes” vizsgaként jelentős pszichoszociális terhet ró a serdülőkre. Kutatásunk célja a Tesztszorongás Kérdőív (TAQ) és egy serdülőkre adaptált életesemény-skála (SRRS-alapú) magyar nyelvű kidolgozása volt, hogy a felvételi stresszét más életesemények kontextusába helyezve vizsgálhassuk. Módszer: A keresztmetszeti vizsgálatban 400 tanuló vett részt: 200 fő 8. osztályos (felvételi előtt) és 200 fő 9. osztályos (felvételi után). A mérőeszközök adaptációja standard fordítási protokollal és kognitív interjúkkal történt. A megbízhatóságot Cronbach-alfa és McDonald-ómega mutatókkal, a stresszorok rangsorát Friedman-próbával, az összefüggéseket Spearman-rangkorrelációval elemeztük. Eredmények: Az adaptált kérdőívcsomag (SSEES) kiváló belső konzisztenciát mutatott. A tanulók mindkét évfolyamon a felvételi vizsgát értékelték az egyik legmegterhelőbb életeseménynek. A 8. osztályosoknál a vizsgastressz erősen korrelált az iskolaváltással és családi konfliktusokkal, míg a 9. osztályosoknál inkább az életmódbeli adaptációval (pl. étkezés, alvás) mutatott szoros összefüggést. Következtetések: A középiskolai felvételi kiemelkedő, a serdülők identitását is érintő stresszor. A létrehozott mérőeszközcsomag megbízhatóan alkalmazható az iskolapszichológiai gyakorlatban a felvételi időszakban a stressz mérésére és a veszélyeztetett tanulók szűrésére.