Disparagement humor: Dispositions and resolutions.

Abstract

Sixty-six students rated written jokes on funniness and on eight other scales. Jokes were varied on the equity of retaliation in an exchange of insults, the relative status of the two parties in this exchange, and in another set of jokes, the popularity of a famous victim of the joke squelch. Overretaliation decreased rated funniness and rated resolution ("sensicalness") of the joke. Control for resolution with analysis of covariance reduced the effect of degree of retaliation on funniness to nonsignificance. Jokes with disliked victims were rated as both funnier and higher in resolution than were jokes with neutral or liked victims, but it was necessary to control for both resolution and feltfreedom ratings to eliminate the effect on funniness. Incongruity (surprise) ratings were not affected by any treatment. Results are interpreted as supporting a proposed integration of disparagement theories with incongruityresolution theories of humor.

From Jest to Antipathy: Disparagement Humor as a Source of Dissonance-Motivated Attitude Change

“…For example, the "dispositional theory" of disparagement humor (Zillman & Cantor, 1976) assumes that individuals enjoy a disparaging joke more when they have negative attitudes toward the victimized party (e.g., when the joke belittles a disliked outgroup) and/or positive attitudes toward the agent of disparagement (e.g., when the agent is from the ingroup). Several studies have supported this model (e.g., Cantor & Zillman, 1973;LaFave, Haddad, & Marshall, 1974;Wicker, Baron, & Willis, 1980).…”

Individual Differences in Reactions to Sexist Humor

“…students) preferred jokes that presented the superior as the victim. Similarly, Wicker, Barron, and Willis (1980) found that jokes with a disliked victim were preferred over jokes with a neutral or a liked victim.…”

Wit and humor in discourse processing

“…Wicker, Barron, and Willis (1980) found that a significant effect on funniness occurred in jokes where disliked victims were retaliated against. However, retaliations that occur in natural conversations may not always be very funny (e.g., exchanges that provoke fights).…”