Humor and the problem solving behavior of married couples

The study was designed to measure the effects of a humorous experience on the problem solving behavior of married couples. Twenty married couples were randomly assigned to either a treatment or non-treatment group. Treatment couples viewed a humorous videotape prior to completing Olson and Ryder's Inventory of Marital Conflict (IMC). All couples were videotaped during their discussions of the IMC case situations and the tapes were later coded using Olson and Ryder's Marital and Family Interaction Coding System (MFICS). Data from the MFICS and the Post Discussion Form of the IMC were used in the statistical analysis. Couples who watched the tape prior to problem solving reported significantly higher levels of satisfaction with their decisions than couples who did not experience humor. They also reported a significantly higher level of involvement in discussing case situations that were similar to their own experiences than did the non-treatment group. It was predicted that treatment couples would experience less conflict and laugh more than non-treatment couples. This did not happen. It was also expected that there would be an interaction between the level of conflict that couples exhibited with the treatment condition and that the interaction would affect amounts of satisfaction and laughter. This did not demonstrate significance. The findings suggest that married couples can benefit from the use of humor prior to problem solving. They appear to be more focused in their efforts and to experience higher levels of satisfaction with the results.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Family and Child Development

Department dc:contributor.department

Family and Child Development

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Year dc:date.issued

1989

Author dc:creator

• Strombom, Tracy A.

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Fu, Victoria

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Blieszner, Rosemary
• Lichtman, Marilyn V.
• Maxwell, Joseph W.
• Protinsky, Howard O.

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10919/54792

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/54792