Ratings of Humor following Experience with Unsolvable Tasks

Abstract

Seligman ( 1975) suggested that following experience with uncontrollable outcomes, a cluster of cognitive, motivational, and emotional factors develop which interfere with subsequent performance. Such a condition is called learned helplessness. The cognitive and motivational aspects of the phenomenon have been substantially researched, but few studies have addressed the emotional state following helplessness training. This study was conducted to observe whether differences in preference for humor could be noted following experience with varying degrees of unconuollability. Sixty undergraduate volunteers were randomly assigned to a Solvable Anagram group ( 100% solvable), a Mixed Anagram group ( 50% solvable), or an Unsolvable Anagram group (0% solvable). Each group was shown 20 slides of five-letter, single solution anagrams and given 30 sec. to write down the solution. Ninety-one percent of the solvable anagrams were solved. Immediately following the anagrams, subjects were asked to race five cartoons selected for aggressive content and five cartoons selected for word play on a five-point Likert scale, high scores indicating high humor, according to a procedure developed by Hetherington and Wray ( 1964). Aggressive cartoons were rated moderately humorous by the Solvable ( M = 2.93, range 1.8 to 4.0) and Mixed (M = 3.12, range 2.0 to 4.4) groups, while the Unsolvable group's ratings were significantly higher ( M = 4.11, range 2.6 to 5.0), by a Duncan's rest. No statistically significant differences were found in the ratings of the word play cartoons, although they were lower for the Unsolvable group (M = 2.89, range 1.6 to 4.0) than for the Mixed ( M = 3.42, range 2 0 to 4.6) or Solvable groups ( M = 3.55, range 2.2 to 4.2). These data suggest an aggressive emotional reaction following helplessness training.