Humor Use in Interpersonal Relationships

Dear Colleagues,

Humor contributes much to the quality of our interpersonal relationships. It has, accordingly, been studied in relation to such phenomena as attraction, persuasion, coping, and support. Nevertheless, humor research in the area of interpersonal communication has frequently lacked a strong theoretical underpinning. In terms of message production, expression, and reception, however, humorous messages ought to have properties in common with other message forms (e.g., self-disclosure, supportive communication). Therefore, humor should be amenable to examination from existent theories of interpersonal communication. For example, humor likely plays a role in such areas as managing identity gaps, the revelation of information about the self, relationship uncertainty, appraisals, and the manner in which relationships develop. The goal of this Special Issue is to bring together research on the use of various kinds of humorous messages and theories of interpersonal processes in order to shed light on both phenomena.

Prof. Dr. Nathan Miczo
Prof. Dr. John Meyer
Guest Editors

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• humor
• interpersonal communication
• relational humor
• humor functions
• teasing
• embarrassment and humor
• empathetic humor
• alienation and humor

Title: Making Light of the Dark: The Use of Gallows Humor Among United States Veterans
Authors: Stephen Yoshimura
Affiliation: University of Montana, Missoula, United States
Abstract: Although humor is generally known to effectively help individuals manage distress, a variety of ways exist to engage in humor and not all of them may be equally effective at promoting desirable outcomes. The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which gallows humor affects the lives of United States war veterans. Based on past research findings, we hypothesized that veterans’ use of gallows humor would associate with an increased level of connectedness to other veterans, which in turn would relate to an overall sense of subjective well-being. An online survey was announced on several social media pages populated by US war veterans, to which 90 fully responded. Our findings indicate that gallows humor does not appear to associate with the connections US veterans maintain with other veterans, but did associate with overall subjective well-being. The implications of these findings for understanding the function of gallows humor are discussed.