Men’s responses to being confronted for sexism with and without humor
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7296259 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kala J Melchiori (0000-0002-6523-7258, James Madison University, corresponding author), Robyn K Mallett (0000-0001-8091-1493, Loyola University Chicago), Julie A Woodzicka (0000-0001-7260-6296, Washington and Lee University) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 47-68 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-08 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Humor - International Journal of Humor Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0933-1719 • E-ISSN: 1613-3722 |
| Publisher | De Gruyter Mouton (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1515/humor-2024-0032 |
| OpenAlex | W4406187966 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 46 |
Confronting bias can reduce prejudice and subsequent discriminatory behavior. However, people often hesitate to confront because of the perceived costs. Humorous confrontation may mitigate these costs. Using hypothetical scenarios, humorous confrontation was found to be similarly effective as serious confrontation, but with fewer social costs (Woodzicka, Julie A., Robyn K. Mallett & Kala J. Melchiori. 2020. Gender differences in using humor to respond to sexist jokes. Humor 33(2). 219–238). The present research tests whether these effects hold when confronted for expressing bias in a lab-based experiment. College-aged men were confronted for sexism by a man or woman in a serious or humorous manner. Compared to past work that used scenarios, we found that men responded in a more friendly way yet were more resistant to feedback when confronted for their actual behavior. Serious confrontations led men to use fewer stereotypes, apologize more, and lower their denial of stereotypic behavior compared to humorous confrontations or a control condition. Unlike past work using scenarios, men showed a more negative reaction to humorous confronters than serious confronters. Men confronters elicited less negative affect, especially compared to women confronters who used humor
Humor Studies and Applications · Media Influence and Health · Media, Gender, and Advertising · Psychology · Social Psychology
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| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |