Short-, medium-, and long-term impact of watching humorous video clips on stress and well-being: An experience sampling method-based field experiment

Abstract

Stress-induced diseases and the severe consequences of chronic stress have been rising steadily over the past several decades. To examine the effectiveness of watching humorous videos as an easily-accessible, adaptive coping-strategy, a preregistered field-based experience-sampling method experiment was conducted (3 weeks) by using a unique design (short-term retests nested within daily assessments). At a daily level, participants (N = 57) watched short, preselected humorous videos and stated their stress level and well-being (i.e., activation, valence), once before the video and three times in the half-hour after (N = 2,789 assessments). Furthermore, stable concepts such as personality, coping strategies, stress, life satisfaction, negative thinking, somatic symptoms, and resilience were assessed before and after the study (i.e., 3-weeks). Watching humorous videos was associated with an instant effect in stress reduction and well-being improvement, which slowly faded in the medium-term (i.e., within 30 min). No consistent long-term effects after 3 weeks were found. These findings highlight the short-term effectiveness of an adaptive, free-of-charge, and widely used coping strategy to reduce stress and increase well-being.