Eighty-seven participants from an online pool were
randomly assigned to one of three conditions. In the Control
condition, participants watched a short comedy clip in which a
comedian relayed a childhood anecdote that culminated in a
final joke. In the Climax Interruption condition, participants
watched the same clip but experienced a video-malfunction
immediately prior to the punch line of the comedian's joke. In
the Non-Climax Interruption condition, participants watched
the same clip but experienced a video-malfunction during a
non-climactic moment of the comedian's anecdote, several
seconds before the introduction of the final joke.
In an ostensibly unrelated study, participants were then
instructed to imagine that they were shopping for several
consumer products (e.g., luggage, cake, etc.). Participants were
presented with the specifications of two items in each of five
product categories, and were asked to imagine that these were the
first two items that they encountered while shopping for the
products online. Next, participants were asked to indicate
whether they would be more likely to purchase one of the two
presented items, or whether they would be more likely to
continue looking for alternatives. Participants read that they
would not actually need to continue examining product
alternatives as part of the study, and that they should simply
report what they would choose to do if they were in the described
situation. Participants reported their choices by selecting a radio