Self-Initiated Humour Protocol: A pilot study with an AI agent

Abbas Edalat

Abstract: Non-hostile humour and laughter have been known for therapeutic benefits in an individual's mental health and wellbeing. To this end, we evaluated the Self-Initiated Humour Protocol (SIHP), a new type of self-administrable laughter intervention that utilises spontaneous and self-induced laughter. Rooted in the core principles of the Self-Attachment Technique -in which an individual creates an affectional bond with their childhood self as represented by their childhood photo or personalised childhood avatar -SIHP provides an algorithmic framework for individuals to learn to laugh in a non-hostile manner and develop a sense of humour in all possible life contexts. This allows SIHP to be self-administered by interacting with an AI agent.Methods: An 8-week intervention was conducted with N=27 adult participants. Exclusion criteria: severe depression or anxiety (PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores above 15). Participants' measurements were collected in the areas of wellbeing, use of different humour styles, emotional self-regulation, self-compassion and psychological capital, and analysed to understand any changes over time.Measurements were taken immediately before, after the intervention, and at the 3-month follow-up.Throughout the intervention, participants were required to practise SIHP 20 minutes a day with the aid of an emotionally intelligent chatbot and their personalised child avatar in virtual reality (VR).Analysis of results at the 3-month follow-up showed significant improvements in the primary outcome of wellbeing with large effect size (r = 0.92), as well as a range of secondary outcomes with large effect sizes, self-compassion (r = 0.93), use of self-enhancing humour (d = 0.80), and emotion regulation (d = 0.87); the results also showed improvement to participant's psychological capital with moderate effect size (d = 0.56).Discussion: This study shows the potential for the practice of SIHP as supported by an emotionally intelligent chatbot and personalised child avatar to have medium-term positive effects, which should be validated through future randomised trials.