Sex Differences in Humour Appreciation: A Question of Conformity?

Gadfield, Nicholas J.

doi:10.1016/b978-0-08-021376-7.50085-1

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Whether this agrees with Gadfield's (1977) finding that women make "emotionally" based judgments of the funniness of Cartoons and jokes is a matter of Interpretation. On the surface, it seems more of an "objective" Brought to you by | Universitaet Giessen Authenticated Download Date | 6/15/15 1:34 PM assessment of the Situation, a basis for judgment that Gadfield Claims marks men's judgments (Gadfield 1977: 433).…”

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confidence: 77%

An experiential exploration of why men and women laugh

Lundell¹

1993

Humr

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Few studies have dealt with differences between the sexes in their appreciation ofjokes. This study attempts to investigate this aspect ofjokes. Nine jokes were told throughout the academic quarter in a class on Scandinavian folklore. Some jokes were longer and anecdotal, some short, two-line, Comeback type jokes, and some were sexual, some parental, and some ethnic. The students were asked to rate the jokes on a scale of l to 7 and t ifthey so wished, comment on why they thought ajoke was funny or not. Nearly 40 students returned the questionnaires; they were roughly equally divided between the sexes. The sexual jokes got the highest rating. Supporting earlier studies, the women in general favored jokes with puns. The men laughed at the "dirty" jokes. The anecdotal jokes were rated higher than the short ones. The women tended to give the jokes higher ratings than the men. It was evident t hat while both sexes may find ajoke funny, they had different reasons for doing so, and a better understanding ofthe different reasons behind similar responses may promote better understanding between the sexes.Mahadaw Apte (1985) notes that existing ethnographic accounts of humor and joking are not helpful in understanding, for example, the nature of linguistic puns and the underlying symbolism of humor. Furthermore, he finds no anthropological discussion of humor relating to sexual differences. What does exist, he argues, is brief and cursory. Psychologists, on the other hand, he comments, have begun to produce more studies on sex-related humor especially in terms of exploring sexual differences in appreciation and evaluation of humor. (However, Apte deplores their lack of analysis of content and technique.) Some years

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supporting

confidence: 77%

An experiential exploration of why men and women laugh

Lundell¹

1993

Humr

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“…Others' Reactions to Disparagement Humor Perceptions of humor material are affected by others' reactions to it. One person's laughter, for instance, can enhance another's enjoyment of humor material (e.g., Chapman, 1974;Gadfield, 1977;Young & Frye, 1966). Young and Frye, for instance, argued that a confederate's laughter enhanced amusement of sexist humor in their study by relaxing the "social taboos" associated with expression of sexist sentiments (p. 754).…”

Section: Extremity Of Disparagement Humormentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Consequences of Disparagement Humor: A Prejudiced Norm Theory

Ford

Ferguson

2004

Pers Soc Psychol Rev

254

179

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In this article we introduce a "prejudiced norm theory" that specifies the social-psychological processes by which exposure to disparagement humor uniquely affects tolerance of discrimination against members of groups targeted by the humor. Our theory posits that a norm of tolerance of discrimination implied by disparagement humor functions as a source of self-regulation for people high in prejudice. For people high in prejudice, this norm regulates the effect of exposure to disparagement humor on tolerance of subsequently encountered discriminatory events. Our theory contributes to the literature on prejudice and discrimination by delineating the processes by which disparagement humor creates a normative climate of tolerance of discrimination, as well as variables that accentuate and attenuate its effects.

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“…Such sex differences in humor expression seem to hold true. Males express more humor than females (e.g., McGhee, 1979;Pollio & Edgerly, 1976), appreciate more aggressive humor (e.g., Cantor, 1976;McGhee, 1979), and elicit more humorous responses from audiences (e.g., Gadfield, 1977;Sheppard, 1977). One reason why maies engage in more humorous expression is that the "clever" person is the one controlling the flow of the communication process, especially with an audience present, so males also seem to want to be in control.…”

Section: Sex Differencesmentioning

confidence: 99%