Abstract
1. Stefan Stieger[1][1],[2][2] 2. Anton K. Formann[2][2],[†][3] 1. 1University of Konstanz, Germany 2. 2University of Vienna, Austria 3. †The author Anton K. Formann is deceased 1. Stefan Stieger, Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Universitatsstrase 10, 78464 Konstanz, Germany. Email: stefan.stieger{at}uni-konstanz.de Research has found that more aggressive cartoons are perceived as funnier. The current study ( N = 106; 16 cartoons) examined this finding in more detail by additionally including painfulness and cleverness rankings of cartoons, and by examining possible moderating effects of different humor styles, self-esteem (explicit, implicit), and social desirability. Aggressive or painful cartoons were not perceived to be funnier, but were rated as having a cleverer punch line. Effects were only weakly correlated with participants’ humor styles, but were independent of self-esteem and social desirability. This suggests that aggressive cartoons are not in general perceived to be funnier than non-aggressive ones, and that there may be other moderators influencing this effect (e.g., the type of cartoons, definition of aggression and funniness, cultural aspects). [1]: #aff-1 [2]: #aff-2 [3]: #aff-3
Highlights
One of the oldest humor theories claims that humor is a form of aggression (e.g., Hobbes, 1950)
When using ratings of painfulness instead of aggression, men were found to rate painful cartoons as funnier, whereas women were found to rate them as less funny
The following adjustments were made: (a) a larger sample size (n > 100) was obtained than in the initial studies by McCauley and colleagues (1983; median = 20), resulting in higher statistical power; (b) participants had to rate cartoons for painfulness, which has been found to have a higher variability than aggression ratings, leading to a more reliable correlation with funniness (Deckers & Carr, 1986); (c) funniness may have something to do with the intelligence of the punch
Summary
One of the oldest humor theories claims that humor is a form of aggression (e.g., Hobbes, 1950). When using ratings of painfulness instead of aggression, men were found to rate painful cartoons as funnier (low positive correlation), whereas women were found to rate them as less funny (medium negative correlation; Barrick, Hutchinson, & Deckers, 1990) Some of these studies used slightly different methods (e.g., Aluja-Fabregat & Torrubia-Beltri, 1998) compared with the original study by McCauley and colleagues (1983), more recent research suggests that the effect of aggressiveness on humor in cartoons is not as general as has been proposed, but may be moderated by individual differences (see La Gaipa, 1968; Prerost, 1983).
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