Strategically funny: Romantic motives affect humor style in relationship initiation
Author(s) / Creator(s)
DiDonato, Theresa E.
Jakubiak, Brittany K.
Abstract / Description
Not all humor is the same, yet little is known about the appeal of specific humor styles in romantic initiation. The current experimental study addresses this gap by investigating how romantic motives (short-term or long-term) affect individuals’ anticipated use of, and response to, positive humor and negative humor. Heterosexual participants (n = 224) imagined the pursuit of either a desired short-term or long-term relationship, indicated the extent to which they would produce positive and negative humor, and reported how their own interest would change in response to the imaginary target’s use of positive or negative humor. Results revealed that individuals are strategic in their humor production as a function of relational motives. Individuals produced positive humor in both contexts but limited their use of negative humor when pursuing a long-term relationship. The target’s positive humor increased individuals’ attraction, especially women’s, and although negative humor boosted attraction, it did not boost attraction more for short-term than long-term relationships. Findings extend a trait-indicator model of humor and their implications are discussed in light of other theoretical perspectives.
Keyword(s)
humor humor styles attraction romantic motives short-term relationship long-term relationshipsPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2016-08-19
Journal title
Europe's Journal of Psychology
Volume
12
Issue
3
Page numbers
390–405
Publisher
PsychOpen GOLD
Publication status
publishedVersion
Review status
peerReviewed
Is version of
Citation
DiDonato, T. E., & Jakubiak, B. K. (2016). Strategically funny: Romantic motives affect humor style in relationship initiation. Europe's Journal of Psychology, 12(3), 390–405. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v12i3.1105
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There are no other versions of this object.
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Author(s) / Creator(s)DiDonato, Theresa E.
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Jakubiak, Brittany K.
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2018-11-21T09:59:44Z
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Made available on2018-11-21T09:59:44Z
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Date of first publication2016-08-19
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Abstract / DescriptionNot all humor is the same, yet little is known about the appeal of specific humor styles in romantic initiation. The current experimental study addresses this gap by investigating how romantic motives (short-term or long-term) affect individuals’ anticipated use of, and response to, positive humor and negative humor. Heterosexual participants (n = 224) imagined the pursuit of either a desired short-term or long-term relationship, indicated the extent to which they would produce positive and negative humor, and reported how their own interest would change in response to the imaginary target’s use of positive or negative humor. Results revealed that individuals are strategic in their humor production as a function of relational motives. Individuals produced positive humor in both contexts but limited their use of negative humor when pursuing a long-term relationship. The target’s positive humor increased individuals’ attraction, especially women’s, and although negative humor boosted attraction, it did not boost attraction more for short-term than long-term relationships. Findings extend a trait-indicator model of humor and their implications are discussed in light of other theoretical perspectives.en_US
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Publication statuspublishedVersion
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Review statuspeerReviewed
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CitationDiDonato, T. E., & Jakubiak, B. K. (2016). Strategically funny: Romantic motives affect humor style in relationship initiation. Europe's Journal of Psychology, 12(3), 390–405. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v12i3.1105
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ISSN1841-0413
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1010
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.1202
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Language of contenteng
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PublisherPsychOpen GOLD
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Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v12i3.1105
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Keyword(s)humoren_US
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Keyword(s)humor stylesen_US
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Keyword(s)attractionen_US
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Keyword(s)romantic motivesen_US
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Keyword(s)short-term relationshipen_US
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Keyword(s)long-term relationshipsen_US
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleStrategically funny: Romantic motives affect humor style in relationship initiationen_US
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DRO typearticle
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Issue3
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Journal titleEurope's Journal of Psychology
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Page numbers390–405
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Volume12
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Visible tag(s)Version of Record