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Under what conditions is one person's aggression toward another judged to be funny ? It was hypothesized that the perceived characters of the protagonists in an aggressive joke would have a significant effect on its humor. Specifically, it was predicted that a good person's hostile act would be seen as less hostile and more humorous; secondly, it was predicted that a victim who "deserved" the hostility he received would elicit more humor than an undeserving victim. Both hypotheses were tested by manipulating the perceived goodness or badness of the two protagonists in four experimentally written "squelch" jokes. College students (N = 192) rated the amount of hostility, the justifiability of the humorous hostility, and the humor of these jokes. Both hypotheses were confirmed. The findings confirm that social perception plays an important role in humor.

Positive values for fairness in competition are supposed to undergird the behavior of athletes engaged in sport. Whether athletes' values actually develop over 4 years in a college that emphasizes character development is the focus of this study. Athletes' (N = 631) use of deontological ethics (Hahm, Beller & Stoll, 1989) in 21 sports value dilemmas were evaluated. At entrance, as well as near graduation, intercollegiate athletes' value scores were lower than intramural athletes' scores. Both groups' scores declined while they were in college. Individual-sport athletes had higher scores than team-sport athletes but manifested a greater decline over 4 years. The findings are consistent with other studies that show decreases in "sportsmanship orientation" and an increase in "professional" attitudes associated with participation in sport.