Related Experiment Videos
Humor and interpersonal attraction
1Dept. of Psychology, Connecticut College, New London, CT 06320, USA.
Journal of Personality Assessment
|December 1, 1985
Summary
Couples who rated jokes similarly reported higher levels of liking, love, and intention to marry their partners. This suggests shared humor appreciation is linked to relationship strength and commitment.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Relationship Science
- Humor Studies
Background:
- Understanding factors that contribute to relationship satisfaction and commitment is crucial in relationship science.
- Humor appreciation and shared experiences are often anecdotally linked to relationship quality.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between similarity in humor perception and key relationship indicators.
- To test hypotheses linking shared humor ratings to liking, love, and marriage predisposition.
Main Methods:
- Administered a humor test (cartoons, comic strips, jokes) to 30 college couples.
- Collected self-reported data on liking, love, and marriage probability using Rubin's Scales.
- Analyzed the correlation between humor rating similarity and relationship variables.
Main Results:
- Confirmed a significant association between similarity in rating humorous stimuli and higher levels of liking.
- Found that shared humor perception positively correlated with reported love for a partner.
- Demonstrated a link between congruent humor appraisal and a greater predisposition to marry.
Conclusions:
- Similarity in humor appreciation is a significant correlate of relationship quality and commitment.
- Shared humor may play a role in fostering deeper connections and long-term relationship intentions.
- These findings support the hypothesis that shared experiences, like humor, strengthen interpersonal bonds.