with a More Positive Attitude Toward Marriage?
Communication in relationships is an important topic. Expressing humor is one important type of communication. Expressing humor may be something that many people appreciate. A person may have a more positive attitude about marriage if his or her spouse is perceived to express humor more often (e.g., tell jokes).
In a study with 50 married couples, Ziv and Gadish (1989) found that a more positive attitude towards marriage by husbands was associated with perceiving their wives as having greater humor creation. Moreover, they found that a more positive attitude towards marriage by wives was associated with perceiving their husbands as having greater humor creation. (1)
These findings suggest that perceiving one's spouse as having greater creation of humor is associated with having a more positive attitude towards marriage.
However, because the findings are correlational, we cannot make causal conclusion. Other explanations for the findings cannot be ruled out.
Nonetheless, it may be a good idea for couples to express humor often. There are many ironic events in life. Each day may have some ironic events. Writing down the ironic events that happen each day may be one may to increase the expression of humor. It may allow one to remember more humorous events.
Notes
1. See their article for other findings. They also investigated relations between humor appreciation and attitude towards marriage.
References
Ziv, A., & Gadish, O. (1989). Humor and Marital Satisfaction. The
Journal of Social Psychology, 129, 759-768.