The impact of disparaging humor content on the funniness of political jokes
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Annegret Braun
Annegret Braun is a psychologist currently working in a clinic for psychosomatic and addiction rehabilitation.Dr. Siegfried Preiser , Professor of Educational Psychology at the Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main, since 2011 principal of the Berlin School of Psychology and professor of Lifelong Learning, coordinator of the expert team “Prevention of Violence, Right-wing Extremism, and Intercultural Conflicts”.
Abstract
The present study examines the extent to which the impression of funniness conveyed by political jokes is influenced by the disparaging contents of the jokes. Jokes directed against conservative politicians and jokes directed against left-wing politicians were judged by 152 participants of different ages and political orientations. As content predictors of joke judgment, measures of political orientation were collected, including conservatism, party preference and perceived likeability of conservative and left-wing politicians. Furthermore, the appreciation of different structures of humor was determined using the 3 WD humor test (Ruch 1995). The results of structural equation analyses provide evidence for a strong and substantial influence of political orientation on the preference of anti-left-wing jokes compared to anti-conservative jokes. The direction of this influence is in accordance with the predictions of the disparagement theories of humor. This study supports the impact of disparaging humor contents on the perceived funniness of political jokes.
About the authors
Annegret Braun is a psychologist currently working in a clinic for psychosomatic and addiction rehabilitation.
Dr. Siegfried Preiser, Professor of Educational Psychology at the Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main, since 2011 principal of the Berlin School of Psychology and professor of Lifelong Learning, coordinator of the expert team “Prevention of Violence, Right-wing Extremism, and Intercultural Conflicts”.
©[2013] by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Strategies of verbal irony in visual satire: Reading The New Yorker's “Politics of Fear” cover
- Humor in organization: From function to resistance
- The impact of disparaging humor content on the funniness of political jokes
- The role of social context in the interpretation of sexist humor
- Development of a Humor Styles Questionnaire for children
- The effect of joke-origin-induced expectancy on cognitive humor
- Humor styles as a predictor of satisfaction within sport teams
- Humor styles, optimism, and their relationships with distress among undergraduates in three Chinese cities
- Unveiling the humor mind of the “starving Armenians”: Literary and internet humor
- Book Review
- Book Review
- Reviewer Acknowledgement
Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Strategies of verbal irony in visual satire: Reading The New Yorker's “Politics of Fear” cover
- Humor in organization: From function to resistance
- The impact of disparaging humor content on the funniness of political jokes
- The role of social context in the interpretation of sexist humor
- Development of a Humor Styles Questionnaire for children
- The effect of joke-origin-induced expectancy on cognitive humor
- Humor styles as a predictor of satisfaction within sport teams
- Humor styles, optimism, and their relationships with distress among undergraduates in three Chinese cities
- Unveiling the humor mind of the “starving Armenians”: Literary and internet humor
- Book Review
- Book Review
- Reviewer Acknowledgement
