Laughing at the Looking Glass: Does Humor Style Serve as an Interpersonal Signal?

Abstract

Abstract:Objective: The provision of information appears to be an important feature of humor. The present studies examined whether humor serves as an interpersonal signal such that an individual"s style of humor is associated with how the individual is perceived by others. Method: We examined this issue across two studies. In Study 1, undergraduate participants (257 targets) were rated more positively by their friends and family members (1194 perceivers) when they possessed more benign humor styles. In Study 2, 1190 community participants rated the romantic desirability of targets ostensibly possessing different humor styles. Results: Across both studies, our results were consistent with the possibility that humor serves as a signal. More specifically, individuals with benign humor styles (affiliative and self-enhancing humor styles) were evaluated more positively than those targets with injurious humor styles (aggressive and self-defeating humor styles). Conclusion: These findings are discussed in terms of the role that humor may play in interpersonal perception and relationships.

The attractiveness of humour types in personal advertisements: Affiliative and aggressive humour are differentially preferred in long-term versus short-term partners

“…The same study also found that men high in prestigiousness were more attractive for long-term relationships, suggesting men higher in socially desirable traits, such as affiliation and cooperativeness, are considered better partners. This corresponds with ZEIGLER-HILL, BESSER and JETT's (2013) finding that those who use affiliative humour are more attractive than those who use aggressive humour. Affiliative humour is markedly different from aggressive humour because, rather than being at the expense of individuals, it is inclusive and brings groups together (MARTIN et al 2003).…”

“…Through questionnaire studies, MARTIN et al (2003) found that individuals high in aggressive humour are more neurotic, serious, and higher in unmitigated agency and masculinity, with other studies demonstrating a link between aggressive humour and psychopathy (VESELKA et al 2010;MARTIN et al 2012;MASUI, FUJIWARA and URA 2013). Demonstrably, aggressive humour is associated with less socially desirable traits (KUIPER andLEITE 2010) andZEIGLER-HILL, BESSER andJETT (2013) have found that people who use aggressive humour are considered to be lower in attractiveness than those who use affiliative humour. Crucially, however, ZEIGLER-HILL, BESSER and JETT's (2013) study did not examine whether relationship type impacted on attractiveness ratings.…”

“…In the current study, we focussed on other-directed humour due to the deliberate influence aggressive and affiliative humour have on interpersonal relations, although perhaps in contrasting ways. Despite evidence demonstrating the link between a 'good sense of humour' and positive personality traits, individuals who use aggressive or affiliative humour are perceived quite differently (KUIPER and LEITE 2010;ZEIGLER-HILL, BESSER and JETT 2013) and have largely differing personality traits (MARTIN et al 2003), which may impact on the type of relationships they are most attractive for.…”

The Relationship Between Peer Victimization and Children's Humor Styles: It's No Laughing Matter!

“…The four humor styles are also associated with a range of personality measures with the benign styles of humor linked to extraversion and openness and, conversely, the negative styles of humor positively correlated with neuroticism and psychopathy, and negatively correlated with agreeableness and conscientiousness (Galloway, ; Martin et al., ; Vernon, Martin, Schermer, & Mackie, ; Veselka, Schermer, Martin, & Vernon, ). Ziegler‐Hill, Besser, and Jett () proposed that the different styles of humor send very different signals to the social environment and provided evidence that adult targets displaying the more benign styles of humor are perceived more positively by others (see also Kuiper & Leite, ). Similarly, Kuiper et al.…”

Impact of humor‐related communication elements in natural dyadic interactions on interpersonal physiological synchrony

“…The use of humor in a dyadic conversation implies communalities in the interlocutors’ construals (Flamson & Barrett, ). It reveals an attempt to establish and elaborate interactional common ground (Clark, ), which may facilitate getting acquainted and advance the interpersonal alignment of viewpoints (Curry & Dunbar, ; Zeigler‐Hill, Besser, & Jett, ). Thereby, feelings of connectedness and closeness as well as the interlocutors’ involvement in the dialogue are augmented, all of which have been reported to be associated with shared humor (Curry & Dunbar, ; Fraley & Aaron, ; Kashdan et al, ; Kurtz & Algoe, , Li et al, ; Weisfeld, ).…”