The influence of performance expectations and personality on audience ratings of humor

Abstract

Abstract Are our ratings of comics and the humor of their material affected by our perceived expectations? We tested the responses of fifty participants, recruited from comedy club audiences in the United States, who completed a standard personality test and then watched and rated video clips of stand-up comedy performances. The comedians in each clip were unknown to the viewers, and were either introduced with enhanced/exaggerated credentials (such as having experience writing for The Tonight Show or appearing on the Modern Family television series), or were given a more generic introduction, hinting that they have not yet achieved notable success. Participants rated their enjoyment of each comedian at three points during each eight-minute video clip, and rated their favorite joke and favorite comedian overall. Results indicated that expectations (based on exaggerated/enhanced credentials) affected humor ratings early in the performance but dissipated as the performance continued, suggesting that expectations only briefly affect one’s judgment of humor. Personality results indicated that the traits Extraversion and Agreeableness were significantly and positively correlated with overall performance ratings but only Extraversion affected whether viewers’ ratings were influenced by enhanced/exaggerated introductions. Agreeableness, gender, and age were more salient predictors of viewers’ humor ratings of comedians than were viewer expectations based on enhanced/exaggerated credentials.