You’re Getting Warmer: The Impression Management Benefits of Humorous Self-Disclosure

Across four studies, we identify humor as a powerful impression management tool. Humorous disclosures signal social competence, enable individuals to project warmth, and mitigate the harmful effects of negative disclosures on perceptions of general competence. The effect of humor on perceptions of general competence, however, is moderated by whether or not the topic of the joke is related to a core competency. We discuss implications of our findings for interpersonal perception and impression management.