Introduction

Outline

Background: Attachment

•  Attachment: a bond between two people

that involves desire for regular contact

with that person and the experience of

distress during separation from that

person (Bowlby, 1978; Ainsworth at al.,

1978)

Measured by Strange Situation test in infancy

Adult Attachment Styles (Bartholemew & Horowitz, 1991)

•  Laughter/humor has many uses:

– Evolutionary

–  Positive emotions

– Negative emotions

– Beneficial to parent-child relations as well

Humor Styles (Martin & Puhlik-Doris, 2003)

Self-Defeating Self-Enhancing

Aggressive Affiliative

Negative

Positive

Self-Directed Other-Directed

Attachment Style Humor Style

Anxious Attachment Positive: Self-Defeating

Negative: Self-Enhancing

Avoidant Attachment Positive: Aggressive

Negative: Affiliative

Humor Preference, Attachment Style, Humor Style

•  Research is lacking in this area •  We wanted to find out if preference for

affiliative and aggressive humor were related to attachment style

•  We also wanted to find out if certain humor styles corresponded with certain

attachment styles in a stronger way than has been found in the past

Focus on Affiliative Humor

Focus on Aggressive Humor

Attachment Security

Preference for Affiliative

Humor

Attachment Dismissal

Preference for Aggressive

Humor

Hypothesis 2

Attachment and Humor Style

Secure Attachment

Affiliative Humor

Self-Defeating Humor

Security

Dismissive Attachment

Aggressive Humor

Affiliative Humor

Dismissal

Fearful Attachment

Self-Enhancing Humor

Methods

•  Participants

– Claremont College students

– Ages 18-22 – 28 females and 12 males – 62.5% Caucasian, 12.5% Asian, 10%

African American, 7.5% Latino/a, 7.5% Other

Procedure

•  3 short standup clips

–  2 video clips (aggressive and affiliative)

–  Participant chooses third video clip (implicit humor

preference)

•  Relationships Scales Questionnaire (Adult Attachment)

•  Humor Styles Questionnaire (Humor Style)

•  Self-report questionnaire on political beliefs (Distractor)

Attachment Security

Preference for Affiliative

Humor

Attachment Security and Video Choice- Frequencies

0  

2  

4  

6  

8  

10  

12  

14  

16  

18  

20  

Affiliative Aggressive

Low Secure

High Secure

Attachment Dismissal

Preference for Aggressive

Humor

Frequencies: Attachment Dismissal and Video Choice

0  

2  

4  

6  

8  

10  

12  

14  

16  

18  

Affiliative Aggressive

Low Dismissal

High Dismissal

Hypothesis 2 Results

Attachment and Humor Style

Secure Attachment

Affiliative Humor

Self-Defeating Humor

Security

Dismissive Attachment

Aggressive Humor

Affiliative Humor

Dismissal

Fearful Attachment

Self-Enhancing Humor

Summary

•  Dismissive attachment is associated with

preference for aggressive humor

•  Secure attachment is associated with

affiliative humor usage, negatively with

self-defeating humor usage

•  Fearful attachment negatively correlated

with self-enhancing humor usage

Discussion

•  Aggressive humor preference = lowered

concern for others

•  Secure attachment = preference for humor

content rather than style

•  Fearful attachment = lower regard for self,

thus self-defeating humor usage

Limitations

•  Small, specific sample

•  Limited humor types and content

•  Self-report nature of surveys

Conclusions

•  Attachment styles, humor styles, and

humor preferences seem to be

significantly related

•  Can help understanding of relationships,

enhance social awareness

•  Area is promising

Acknowledgements