Perspective-Taking Humor: Accounting for Stress Moderation

Two studies were conducted to examine the way in which humor could account for the stress moderator effects found in earlier research. In study one, perspective-taking humor measured by responses to Far Side cartoons was found to predict emotional responses during tasks in which mortality was salient. While most subjects were dysphoric following death-focusing exercises, those who had scored high on perspective-taking humor showed little change in affect. In study two, perspective-taking humor accounted for variance in systolic blood pressure during the recovery from an uncontrollable stress task. In contrast, such differences in recovery were not obtained following the administration of a more controllable stress task. These data were taken to offer some support for the idea that perspective-taking humor is more an emotion-focused coping technique that facilitates recovery from stressful circumstances than a means of dealing with the stress itself.