Effects of Affective and Cognitive Distractions on Anxiety Reduction

Summary Male undergraduates (N = 126) with either low, medium, or high levels of experimentally induced anxiety were exposed to either no distracting material, nonhumorous distracting material (interesting but neutral quotations), or humorous distracting material (jokes). Jokes were more effective in reducing anxiety than either quotations or no distractions. Anxiety reduction was related to the degree to which Ss perceived the jokes as funny.