The effect of a shared humorous experience on closeness in initial encounters

Randomly paired same-sex strangers (N = 96) participated in a series, of structured interactions systematically manipulated to either create or not create a shared humorous experience. They then completed measures of feelings of closeness to their interaction partner. Consistent with hypotheses derived from personal relationships and humor theories, there was a significant effect of humor on closeness. This effect was significantly partially mediated by self-expansion and distraction from the discomfort of the first encounter, but not by self-disclosure/acceptance. The effect was significantly moderated by trait sense of humor and marginally moderated, by anxious attachment style (such that the effect was greater for those high in trait sense of humor and high in anxious attachment). A predicted moderation by avoidant attachment was not significant.