Joke's On You: A Social Relations Analysis of Humor Styles in Friendships

ABSTRACT Humor plays an important role in the formation and maintenance of close relationships, yet little is known about how people come to perceive their friends as funny or as using different humor styles. The present study examined perceptions of funniness and humor styles in 185 naturally occurring friendship groups ( N = 740). In the context of the Social Relations Model, friends demonstrated modest consensus regarding humor styles and funniness, indicating that humor is sufficiently observable to generate shared impressions. At the same time, substantial perceiver and relationship variances suggested that humor judgments are also shaped by individual tendencies and the unique dynamics of particular friendships. Self‐other agreement and assumed similarity were also evident across humor styles. Finally, adaptive humor styles and general funniness were associated with greater friendship satisfaction, while aggressive and self‐defeating humor were associated with poorer friendship quality. These findings position humor as both an individual characteristic and an interpersonal perception that emerges through close relationships.