If You’re Funny and You Know It: Personality, Gender, and People’s Ratings of Their Attempts at Humor

Abstract

In seven studies (n = 1,133), adults tried to create funny ideas and then rated the funniness of their responses, which were also independently rated by judges. People were relatively modest and self-critical about their ideas. Extraversion (r = .12 [.07, .18], k =7) and openness to experience (r = .09 [.03, .15], k = 7) predicted rating one’s responses as funnier; women rated their responses as less funny (d = -.28 [-.37, -.19], k = 7). The within-person correlation between self and judge ratings was small but significant (r = .13 [.07, .19], k = 7), so people had some insight into their ideas’ funniness.

Funny Selves: Development of the Humor Efficacy and Identity Short Scales (HEISS)

“…For example, people vary widely in how well they can generate funny ideas on the spot, how often they use humor in everyday interactions, and how effectively humor is used to meet social goals (Heintz, 2017;Nezlek & Derks, 2020). Beliefs captured by the HEISS are likely prominent in the production and self-regulation of humor, the humor-related goals people set for themselves (e.g., whether to pursue activities that involve trying to be funny), and how they evaluate their own attempts to be funny (Silvia, Greengross et al, 2021).…”