Finding Comfort in a Joke: Consolatory Effects of Humor Through Cognitive Distraction

Emotion

Volumn 9, Issue 4, 2009, Pages 574-578

  Strick, Madelijn ^a   Holland, Rob W ^a   van Baaren, Rick B ^a   van Knippenberg, Ad ^a  

^a RADBOUD UNIVERSITY NIJMEGEN   (Netherlands)

Author keywords

affective intensity; distraction; emotion regulation; humor

Indexed keywords

ADULT; ARTICLE; COGNITION; CONTROLLED STUDY; EMOTION; FEMALE; HUMAN; HUMAN EXPERIMENT; HUMOR; MALE; MOOD; STIMULUS RESPONSE; VISUAL STIMULATION; WORKING MEMORY;

ADAPTATION, PSYCHOLOGICAL; ADOLESCENT; ATTENTION; AWARENESS; CARTOONS AS TOPIC; COGNITION; COLOR PERCEPTION; CONCEPT FORMATION; EMOTIONS; FEMALE; HUMANS; MALE; PATTERN RECOGNITION, VISUAL; READING; SEMANTICS; WIT AND HUMOR AS TOPIC; YOUNG ADULT;

EID: 69049113883     PISSN: 15283542     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1037/a0015951     Document Type: Article

References (27)

1. Bradley M.M., Cuthbert B.N., and Lang P.J. Picture media and emotion: Effects of a sustained affective context. Psychophysiology 33 (1996) 662-670
2. Cann A., Calhoun L.G., and Nance J.T. Exposure to humor before and after an unpleasant stimulus: Humor as a preventative or a cure. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research 13 (2000) 177-191
3. Cann A., Holt K., and Calhoun L.G. The roles of humor and sense of humor in responses to stressors. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research 12 (1999) 177-193
4. Danzer A., Dale J.A., and Klions H.L. Effect of exposure to humorous stimuli on induced depression. Psychological Reports 66 (1990) 1027-1036
5. Dienstbier R.A. The impact of humor on energy, tension, task choices, and attributions: Exploring hypotheses from toughness theory. Motivation and Emotion 19 (1995) 255-267
6. Dixon N.F. Humor: A cognitive alternative to stress?. In: Sarason I.G., and Spielberger C.D. (Eds). Stress and anxiety 7 (1980), Hemisphere, Washington, DC 281-289
7. Fredrickson B.L., and Levenson R.W. Positive emotions speed recovery from the cardiovascular sequelae of negative emotions. Cognition and Emotion 12 (1998) 191-220
8. Fredrickson B.L., Mancuso R.A., Branigan C., and Tugade M.M. The undoing effect of positive emotions. Motivation and Emotion 24 (2000) 237-258
9. Goel V., and Dolan R.J. The functional anatomy of humor: Segregating cognitive and affective components. Nature Neuroscience 4 (2001) 237-238
10. Just M.A., and Carpenter P.A. A capacity theory of comprehension: Individual differences in working memory. Psychological Review 99 (1992) 122-149
11. Lang P.J., Bradley M.M., and Cuthbert B.N. International Affective Picture System (IAPS): Instruction manual and affective ratings (Tech. Rep. No. A-5) (2001), University of Florida, Center for Research in Psychophysiology, Gainesville
12. Lefcourt H.M., Davidson K., Shepherd R., Phillips M., Prkachin K.M., and Mills D.E. Perspective-taking humor: Accounting for stress moderation. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology 14 (1995) 373-391
13. Martin R.A. The psychology of humor: An integrative approach (2007), Elsevier Academic Press, Burlington, MA
14. Martin R.A., Kuiper N.A., Olinger L.J., and Dance K.A. Humor, coping with stress, self-concept, and psychological well-being. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research 6 (1993) 89-104
15. Martin R.A., and Lefcourt H.M. Sense of humor as a moderator of the relation between stressors and moods. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 45 (1983) 1313-1324
16. Mobbs D., Greicius M.D., Abdel-Azim E., Menon V., and Reiss A.L. Humor modulates the mesolimbic reward centers. Neuron 40 (2003) 1041-1048
17. Moran C.C. Short-term mood change, perceived funniness, and the effect of humor stimuli. Behavioral Medicine 22 (1996) 32-38
18. Raskin V. Semantic mechanisms of humor (1985), D. Reidel, Boston
19. Schimmack U. Attentional interference effects of emotional pictures: Threat, negativity, or arousal?. Emotion 5 (2005) 55-66
20. Schmidt S.R. The humour effect: Differential processing and privileged retrieval. Memory 10 (2002) 127-138
21. Siegle G.J., Steinhauer S.R., Thase M.E., Stenger V.A., and Carter C.S. Can't shake that feeling: Assessment of sustained event-related fMRI amygdala activity in response to emotional information in depressed individuals. Biological Psychiatry 51 (2002) 693-707
22. Silvert L., Lepsien J., Fragopanagos N., Goolsby B., Kiss M., Taylor J.G., et al. Influence of attentional demands on the processing of emotional facial expressions in the amygdala. NeuroImage 38 (2007) 357-366
23. Strick M., Van Baaren R.B., Holland R.W., and Van Knippenberg A. Humor in advertisements enhances product liking by mere association. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied 15 (2009) 35-45
24. Suls J.M. A two-stage model for the appreciation of jokes and cartoons: An information-processing analyses. In: Goldstein J.H., and McGhee P.E. (Eds). The psychology of humor (1972), Academic Press, New York 81-100
25. Van Dillen L.F., and Koole S.L. Clearing the mind: A working memory model of distraction from negative mood. Emotion 7 (2007) 715-723
26. Van Dillen, L. F., & Koole, S. L. (in press). How automatic is "automatic vigilance"? The role of working memory in interference of negative information. Cognition & Emotion. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/02699930802338178
27. Yovetich N.A., Dale J.A., and Hudak M.A. Benefits of humor in reduction of threat induced anxiety. Psychological Reports 66 (1990) 51-58