A comparison of cultural and gender differences in the perception of humor.

摘要

This study examined cultural and gender differences in the perception of humor. American (n = 72) and Korean (n = 60) college students responded to questionnaires measuring funniness of joke topics, three processes of humor (incongruity, superiority, and tension-relief), social appropriateness of humor, power distance, and a sense of humor. It was found that Americans and males showed higher preference of aggressive, sexual, and vulgar jokes compared to Koreans and females. In addition, Americans and males perceived humor based on superiority funnier than Koreans and females, in general. Power distance and relief function of humor, and sense of humor and superiority process of humor showed different relationships across cultures. Social appropriateness of humor and the sense of humor revealed gender differences in the relationships with the superiority humor. The relationship between social appropriateness of humor and sense of humor also showed a gender difference.