Humor and hierarchy

An experimental study of the effects of humor production on male dominance, prestige and attractiveness

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12196598
AutoresAli Giritlioğlu (University of Cambridge , Cambridge , UK, autor de correspondencia), Nikhill Chaudhary (0000-0001-7528-8529, University of Cambridge , Cambridge , UK)
Año2022
Volumen35
Número4
Páginas553-586
Fecha de publicación2022-07-12
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaHumor - International Journal of Humor Research (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0933-1719 • E-ISSN: 1613-3722
EditorialDe Gruyter Mouton (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/humor-2022-0006
OpenAlexW4285093047
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas75

We conducted a cross-cultural experiment on a sample of 230 participants, to examine how listening to an audio recording of a male telling a joke followed by either laughter (humorous condition) or an unimpressed murmur (non-humorous condition) affected participant ratings of that male’s social status, dominance, prestige and attractiveness. The experiment followed a between-subjects design. The sample was cross-cultural to explore possible cultural variation and compared effects among Western (UK & USA) ( n = 119, 74 females) and Turkish ( n = 111, 87 females) participants. We measured participants’ ratings of dominance/prestige and attractiveness, based on validated and previously used scales. In the humorous condition, the male was rated as having significantly higher social status and prestige but not dominance. He was also rated as more attractive by female participants from the UK & USA; this effect was mediated by prestige. Conversely, attractiveness ratings by female Turkish participants did not differ across conditions. The effect among the former was found to have been mediated via prestige. We interpret these findings as suggesting that humor production represents a means of gaining status but also highlighting that its recognized role in attractiveness varies cross-culturally. Although the present endeavor represents a pilot study, we believe that our findings raise new questions regarding the interrelationships of humor production, status, and attractiveness, and their evolutionary background

Attractiveness · Dominance (genetics · Linguistics · Prestige · Social status · Sociology · Turkish · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior · Humor Studies and Applications · Media, Gender, and Advertising · Psychology · Social Psychology