Effects of Humorous Disparagement of Self, Friend, and Enemy

Abstract

36 male and 36 female undergraduates in an introductory communications course were exposed to an audio-taped communication involving five humorous stories. The communication was manipulated so that the target of humorous disparagement by a male was (a) the disparager himself, (b) a male friend of the disparager, and (c) a male enemy of the disparager. The effects of disparagement on the perception of the disparager and on humor appreciation were assessed. Self-disparagement affected person perception adversely. Compared to the person who disparages others, the self-disparager was perceived as less intelligent, less confident, and less witty. For the appreciation of humor, an interaction between the target of disparagement and the sex of the respondent was obtained. Females found self-disparagement of a male funnier than did males, whereas males found disparagement of an enemy funnier than did females. A second experiment, involving 60 male and 60 female undergraduates, factorially varied the sex of the self-disparager with the sex of the respondent. Results of this experiment ruled out the possibility that the females' greater appreciation of self-disparaging humor in the first investigation may have been due to the fact that the target of disparagement was male.