Effects of put -down humor on cohesion in groups

Put-down humor is a type of humor that may have a particularly strong impact on socio-emotional group processes. It always has a target, and the intent of the speaker is to make fun of someone or something. Therefore, put-down humor always implies something about the speaker's attitude or relationship with a person or object. Observational studies suggest that put-down humor can affect cohesion in a group, and it is assumed to increase cohesion when it refers to outgroup members (as compared to ingroup members).;Two lab studies were conducted to examine the underlying processes and moderators of the put-down humor---cohesion relation. Participants were led to believe that they were able to interact with other group members via headsets. In fact, the contributions of other ostensive group members had been recorded to manipulate the occurrence of put-down humor.;In Study 1, I found that while put-down humor did not increase participants' attraction to other group members, it did increase the perception of cohesion among other group members. Participants in the Put-down Humor condition regarded the other group members to be a cohesive unit and perceived them to be in a more positive mood, to feel more psychological safety, and to be more similar to each other than did participants in the No Humor condition. Perceived positive mood and perceived similarity among other group members mediated the relation between put-down humor and cohesion.;In Study 2, changes in the procedure helped participants to feel safer in the group to begin with. But even under those circumstances, the pattern of results remained the same: When hearing put-down humor, participants were not more attracted to the group than when not hearing any humor. However, they perceived the other group members to be a more cohesive unit.;Overall, these results suggest that put-down humor can create positive impressions of other group members without increasing one's own attraction to the group. I discuss when and why put-down humor might also increase one's attraction to the group.