Attachment orientations and individual differences in humor

Two studies examined associations between attachment orientations and humor. In Study 1, 121 Israeli undergraduates completed measures of attachment orientations, big five personality traits, and trait-like characteristics of humor. In Study 2, 185 Israeli undergraduates completed measures tapping attachment orientations and subjective experience of humor-eliciting situations. Findings revealed that participants scoring higher on attachment anxiety scored lower on humor generation, social humor style, and the use of humor for distress regulation, scored higher on self-defeating humor style, and held ambivalent feelings toward humoreliciting situations. Participants who scored higher on avoidant attachment scored lower on humor appreciation, social humor style, and the use of humor in close relationships, and held a more aversive experience of humor-eliciting situations. These associations were not explained by high-order personality traits. Theoretical implications of the findings were discussed.