Finding comfort in a joke: consolatory effects of humor through cognitive distraction
- PMID: 19653782
- DOI: 10.1037/a0015951
Finding comfort in a joke: consolatory effects of humor through cognitive distraction
Abstract
This study aimed to demonstrate that the cognitive demands involved in humor processing can attenuate negative emotions. A primary aspect of humor is that it poses cognitive demands needed for incongruency resolution. On the basis of findings that cognitive distraction prevents mood-congruent processing, the authors hypothesized that humorous stimuli attenuate negative emotions to a greater extent than do equally positive nonhumorous stimuli. To test this idea, the authors used a modified version of the picture-viewing paradigm of L. F. Van Dillen and S. L. Koole (2007). Participants viewed neutral, mildly negative, and strongly negative pictures, followed by either a humorous or an equally positive nonhumorous stimulus, and then rated their feelings. Participants reported less negative feelings in both mildly and strongly negative trials with humorous positive stimuli than with nonhumorous positive stimuli. Humor did not differentially affect emotions in the neutral trials. Stimuli that posed greater cognitive demands were more effective in regulating negative emotions than less demanding stimuli. These findings fully support Van Dillen and Koole's working memory model of distraction from negative mood and suggest that humor may attenuate negative emotions as a result of cognitive distraction.
2009 APA, all rights reserved.
Similar articles
-
Clearing the mind: a working memory model of distraction from negative mood.Emotion. 2007 Nov;7(4):715-23. doi: 10.1037/1528-3542.7.4.715. Emotion. 2007. PMID: 18039038
-
Differential influences of coping humor and humor bias on mood.Behav Med. 1999 Spring;25(1):36-42. doi: 10.1080/08964289909596737. Behav Med. 1999. PMID: 10209697
-
Using humour as an extrinsic source of emotion regulation in young and older adults.Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2014 Oct;67(10):1895-909. doi: 10.1080/17470218.2013.873474. Epub 2014 Mar 3. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2014. PMID: 24325142
-
A theory of humor elicitation.Psychol Rev. 1992 Oct;99(4):663-88. doi: 10.1037/0033-295x.99.4.663. Psychol Rev. 1992. PMID: 1454903 Review.
-
Feminism and the cognitive theory of emotion: anger, blame and humor.Women Health. 1991;17(1):57-69. doi: 10.1300/J013v17n01_04. Women Health. 1991. PMID: 2048322 Review.
Cited by
-
People with higher relationship satisfaction use more humor, valuing, and receptive listening to regulate their partners' emotions.Curr Psychol. 2023 Mar 10:1-9. doi: 10.1007/s12144-023-04432-4. Online ahead of print. Curr Psychol. 2023. PMID: 37359582 Free PMC article.
-
Web-Based Conversations Regarding Fathers Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Qualitative Content Analysis.JMIR Pediatr Parent. 2023 Feb 15;6:e40371. doi: 10.2196/40371. JMIR Pediatr Parent. 2023. PMID: 36790850 Free PMC article.
-
Self-efficacy beliefs in managing positive emotions: Associations with positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction across gender and ages.Front Hum Neurosci. 2022 Aug 8;16:927648. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.927648. eCollection 2022. Front Hum Neurosci. 2022. PMID: 36003312 Free PMC article.
-
Differential effects of stress-related and stress-unrelated humor in remitted depression.Sci Rep. 2022 May 13;12(1):7946. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-11515-y. Sci Rep. 2022. PMID: 35562520 Free PMC article. Clinical Trial.
-
The Robust Italian Validation of the Coping Humor Scale (RI-CHS) for Adult Health Care Workers.Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Feb 22;19(5):2522. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19052522. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022. PMID: 35270213 Free PMC article.
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources