The Influence Of Humor On The Formation And Maintenance Of Romantic Relationships

Humor plays an important role in the formation of romantic relationships and has received attention from many researchers in recent years.After the formation of romantic relationships,humor also has an important impact on the maintenance of romantic relationships.Therefore,this study aims to systematically explore the impact of humor on the formation and maintenance of romantic relationships through three studies.Among them,Study One and Study Two explore the impact of humor on the formation of romantic relationships(i.e.the mate selection stage),and Study Three explore the impact of humor on the maintenance of romantic relationships.Purpose:(1)To explore the impact of humor on mate selection preferences among college students,as well as the mediating role of perceived traits(intelligence,enthusiasm,and pleasure)between humor and mate selection preferences;(2)Exploring the impact of different humor styles on long-term and short-term mate selection preferences among college students,as well as the mediating role of perceived personality between humor styles and mate selection preferences;(3)Exploring the role of humor in romantic relationships among college and graduate students,namely the impact of different humor styles used by couples on conflict resolution and relationship satisfaction.Method:(1)Study 1 selected 115 college students and used 2(humor: high/low)× 2(Subject gender: male/female)A two factor mixed experimental design was conducted to explore the impact of humor on male and female mate selection intentions,as well as the mediating role of perceptual traits between humor and mate selection intentions.Humor is an intra subject variable,gender is an inter subject variable,and the dependent variable is the mate selection intention evaluated by the subjects.(2)Study 2 selected 200 college students using 2(gender: male/female)× 2(Relationship type: Short term/Long term)× 4(Humor Style: Affiliative humor/Self-enhancing humor/self-defeating humor/Aggressive humor)Three factor mixed experimental design to explore the impact of different humor styles on men and women’s long-term and short-term mate choice intentions,as well as the mediating role of perceived personality between humor style and mate choice intentions.The relationship type is the intra subject variable,humor style and gender are the inter subject variables,and the dependent variable is the mate choice intention evaluated by the subjects.(3)Study Three selected 30 pairs of college and graduate couples to explore the impact of different humor styles on conflict resolution and relationship satisfaction in conflict situations through laboratory observation.Result:(1)Research 1 shows that humor can affect the willingness to choose a spouse.People’s willingness to choose a spouse is significantly higher under high humor conditions than under low humor conditions,and there is no gender difference;Perceived pleasure and perceived intelligence have a parallel mediating effect between humor and mate selection intention,and humor can influence mate selection intention through perceived pleasure and intelligence.(2)Research 2 shows that humor style can affect long-term and short-term mate selection intentions.In both long-term and short-term relationships,people’s mate selection intentions are highest under the conditions of affiliative humor and Self-enhancing humor,followed by self-defeating humor,and people’s mate selection intentions are lowest under the conditions of aggressive humor,but this difference is greater in long-term relationships and there is no gender difference;Perceived neuroticism,openness,agreeableness,and responsibility play a mediating role between different humor styles and mate selection intentions.Positive humor styles can increase people’s perceived openness,agreeableness,and responsibility,thereby enhancing mate selection intentions,while negative humor styles can reduce mate selection intentions by increasing people’s perceived neuroticism.(3)Research three shows that couples tend to use affiliative humor in actual interactions;The degree of use of male affiliative humor can positively predict the degree of conflict resolution perceived by the female.