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The role of humor in human relationships: An evolutionary model

The role of humor in human relationships: An evolutionary model. Tisljár Roland 1 , Sefcsik Tamás 1 , Bereczkei Tamás 2 1University of Szeged, Institute of Psychology 2 University of Pécs, Institute of Psychology 8th Alps-Adria Psychology Conference Ljubljana, 2008. Outline.

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The role of humor in human relationships: An evolutionary model

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  1. The role of humor in human relationships: An evolutionary model Tisljár Roland1 , Sefcsik Tamás1, Bereczkei Tamás2 1University of Szeged, Institute of Psychology 2 University of Pécs, Institute of Psychology 8th Alps-Adria Psychology Conference Ljubljana, 2008.

  2. Outline • Theoretical background • Evolutionary theories of humor • Humor as the product of sexual selection • Role of similarity in human relationships • Method • Results • Discussion

  3. Evolved basis of humor • Laughing and humor are universal (Buss, 1989) • Unvoluntary, reflex-like reaction (Weisfeld, 1993) • Similar to our basic emotions (Martin, 2007)

  4. Evolutionary theories of humor 1. • Humor and laughter are likely originated in social play (van Hoof and Preuschoft, 2003) • Facilitating the development of various adaptive skills (Bateson, 2005) • Playfully practice important skills (Weisfeld, 1993) • In a non-threatening context • Social cognition, interpersonal behavior

  5. Evolutionary theories of humor 2. • Vocal grooming (Dunbar, 1996) • Facilitates social bonding • Emotion-induction mechanism (Gervais and Wilson, 2005) • Faster way of becoming playful during times of safety • Competitive advantage over other groups • Creativity is the most important part of humor (Miller, 2000) • Rather than its agressiveness • Sexual selection play a major role in its evolution

  6. Humor and the mate choice process • Humor is a highly valued social trait (Apte, 1987; Feingold, 1992) • One of the ten most desirable characteristics (Buss, 1989) • Friendships, relation partners (Joeyen-Waldorf, 2003)

  7. Testing Miller’s theory • Bressler and Balshine (2006) • Women prefer men with a good sense of humor • Men’s preference is not influenced by this characteristics • Bressler, Martin and Balshine (2006) • Different ideas of the sexes about what the desirable sense of humor is • Women – Someone who makes them laugh • Men – Someone who laughs at their jokes

  8. Homogamy and mate choice • People tend to choose mates on the basis of similarity (Bereczkei and Csanaky, 1996) • Race, socioeconomic status, age, intellectual ability, personality variables (Bereczkei, Vörös, Gál and Bernáth, 1997) • Married couples are more genetically similar than randomly paired individuals (Buunk and Fries, 1997)

  9. Hypothesis • Humor works as a matching device in the beginning of the relationship • Honest information about the prospective partner’s mind • We choose our partner on the basis of similarity • How similarly our minds work

  10. Method • Participants • 38 couples (mean age=22,7, SD=4,5) • Procedures • Humor Style Questionnaire (HSQ) (Martin et al., 2003) • Four dimensions: • Affiliative humor (+) • Self-enhancing humor (+) • Agressive humor (-) • Self-defeating humor (-) • Romantic relationship-satisfaction questionnaire (RSQ) (self-produced)

  11. Items from the Humor Styles Questionnaire measure • Affiliative humor • „I don’t have to work very hard at making other people laugh – I seem to be a naturally humorous person.” • Self-enhancing humor • „If I am feeling depressed, I can usually cheer myself up with humor.” • Aggresive humor • „If I don’t like someone, I often use humor or teasing to put them down.” • Self-defeating humor • „I let people laugh at me or make fun at my expense more than I should.”

  12. Items from the Relationship Satisfaction Questionnaire • „How many time has elapsed from the beginning of this relationship?” • „How many time has elapsed between your acquaintance and the beginning of this relationship?” • „How much are you satisfied with this relationship?” (1-5 Likert scale) • „Will you be together in a year’s time (if it is depends on you)?”

  13. Results

  14. 50 45 Male partner Female partner 40 HSQ mean scores 35 30 25 Affiliative humor Self-enhancing humor Aggressive humor Self-defeating humor Gender differences within couples: HSQ dimensions mean scores n.s. n.s. * n.s.

  15. Correlations between the HSQ dimensions and the Relationships satisfaction items

  16. Discussion • High similarity in the couples humor styles • Humor may work as a matching device in the beginning of the relationships • Typical humor style can also shows a tendency to hide our true self

  17. I’d like to thank to • Rod. A. Martin • László Séra • Péter Vukov • Bernadett Bodor • Zsófia Kapás • Mónika Krizsán • Márta Pápai • Szilvia Polgár • Kamilla Polyák • Orsolya Szabó • Karolina Janacsek • Dezső Németh

  18. Thank you for your attention! • http://www.evolutionpsychology.com/ • tisljar@gmail.com

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