Ratings of and Memory for Gender JokesRatings of and Memory for Gender JokesDoug Eamon, Dawn Dent, Kim Pleva, Jesse Nelson-Rowe

University of Wisconsin - WhitewaterMidwestern Psychological Association

Chicago, May, 2006

AbstractAfter rating sexist jokes disparaging males and females on scales of humorousness, offensiveness, and bias, participants were given an unexpected cued recall test for memory for the punch line and an item of “incidental” information contained in the jokes. Male subjects rated jokes disparaging females as more humorous and less offensive than females rated these jokes, and females rated equivalent jokes disparaging males as more humorous and less offensive than males rated them. Both males and females recalled more punch lines from jokes disparaging males than they did from jokes disparaging females; memory for “incidental” information was unrelated to joke bias and sex of participants. Rated offensiveness of jokes was negatively related to recall for females, but not for males; rated humorousness was unrelated to recall for both males and females.

IntroductionJoke ratings. Some studies of ratings of gender-biased jokes report that women find jokes biased against females as funny or even funnier than do men (Cantor, 1976; Losco & Epstein, 1975; Borges, Barrett, & Fox, 1980), but other studies suggest that women react negatively to humor biased against females and prefer jokes biased against males (Jackson & Jackson, 1997; Herzog, 1999; Greenwood & Isbell, 2002). These conflicting results may arise from inadequate controls over materials (jokes). Reliable comparisons of joke ratings between sexes would dictate that the jokes rated be comparable to each other; this is rarely the case in existing literature.

Memory for humor. While research has shown that both humorousness as arousal (Maher & van Giffen, 1988, Schmidt, 1994) and offensiveness (Derks, Gardner, & Agarwal, 1998) can enhance recall, we found no study specifically of memory for gender-biased jokes. Such jokes provide a device for assessing the simultaneous effects of arousal from both humor and tendentiousness on memory, as well as differences in humor processing mechanisms for men and women (Johnson, 1992). A better understanding of this relationship may help bring further clarity to the complexity of variables impacting sex differences in gender-biased humor ratings.

-------------This experiment is currently active and available on-line at http://facstaff.uww.edu/eamond/research/GJokesDK1/ConsentGJokesDK1.htm

RecallPunch Lines. A 2 (subject sex) x 2 (joke bias) AOV of the average number of punch lines recalled found a main effect for joke bias, where the number of punch lines for jokes biased against males (M = 65.5%) was greater than that for jokes biased against females (M = 55.6%), F(1, 45) = 4.30, p < .05. We found no effect for sex of participant, nor did the interaction of joke bias x sex of participant reach significance.Incidental Information. A 2 (subject sex) x 2 (joke bias) AOV of the average number of incidental lines recalled revealed no significant effects.

Ratings and RecallWe conducted four multiple regression analyses with dependent variables: (1) recall of punch lines of jokes biased against females, (2) recall of punch lines of jokes biased against males, (3) recall of incidental information from jokes biased against females, and (4) recall of incidental information from jokes biased against males. For each of these analyses, predictors were sex of rater, rating of offensiveness of the respective jokes and the sex x rating interaction. (1) Punch lines of jokes biased against females. We found a significant negative effect for average rating of offensiveness (ß = -.444, p < .05), as well as an interaction between sex of rater and offensive rating (ß = .815, p < .05). Data showed that the negative relationship occurred for female raters but not for males. (2) Punch lines of jokes biased against males. No significant effects were observed. (3) Incidental information from jokes biased against females. As with the analysis of punch lines, we found a significant negative effect for average rating of offensiveness (ß = -.467, p < .05), although the interaction of sex of rater and offensive rating did not quite reach significance (ß = .717, p = .062). Again, the negative relationship occurred for female raters but not for males. (4) Incidental information from jokes biased against males. No significant effects were observed.

ConclusionsOur ratings data support a dispositional theory of humor (Zillman & Cantor, 1976), in which in-group members respond favorably to disparaging remarks directed at out-group members, but unfavorably to disparaging remarks directed toward in-group members. Findings linking humor to recall (e.g., Schmidt, 1994) were not corroborated, nor were reports of positive effects for tendentious material (Derks, Gardner, & Agarwal, 1998).

Selected ReferencesCantor, J. R., (1976). What is funny to whom? The role of gender. Journal of Communication, 26, 164-172.

Derks, P., Gardner, J. B., & Agarwal, R. (1998). Recall of innocent and tendentious humorous material. Humor, 11(1), 5-19.

Schmidt, S. R. (1994). Effects of humor on sentence memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 20(4), 953-967.

Zillman, D., & Cantor, J. R. (1976). A disposition theory of humour and mirth. Humor and laughter: Theory, research, and applications. Eds. Chapman, A., & Foot, H. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 93-116.

Dave KohlmeyerMarquette University

Method

Materials

Twelve matched gender biased jokes that could be “reversed” as in the examples below and six “neutral” jokes.

Procedure

In an on-line experiment, 19 males and 29 females rated 6 jokes that disparaged females, 6 jokes that disparaged males, and 6 “neutral” jokes on 5-point scales of humorousness, offensiveness, and bias. No subject rated both the against-females and against-males version of any of the jokes; all rated the neutral jokes. Following the ratings, participants were tested in a unexpected cued recall task for punch lines (“Why was the male brain cheaper?”) and other “incidental” information (“How many brains were available?”). After consultation, inter-judge agreement of recall accuracy was greater than 95%.

Results

Biased Against Males Biased Against FemalesA patient was in desperate need of a brain transplant. After a long wait, the brain surgeon phoned with two brains available. One was a man's brain, which would cost $20,000 and the other was a woman's brain, which would cost only $10,000. "Why is the woman's brain only $10,000?" asked the patient. "Well," said the surgeon, "it's been used!"

A patient was in desperate need of a brain transplant. After a long wait, the brain surgeon phoned with two brains available. One was a woman's brain, which would cost $20,000 and the other was a man's brain, which would cost only $10,000. "Why is the man's brain only $10,000?" asked the patient. "Well," said the surgeon, "it's been used!"

Joke RatingsHumorousness. A 2 (subject sex) x 2 (joke bias) AOV revealed that females rated jokes biased against females as less humorous (M = 2.42) than the same jokes in their against-male form (M = 2.82), but little difference was found in the ratings by males (MBiased against

females = 2.94 vs. MBiased against males = 2.66), F(1, 46) = 12.81, p < .001, Figure 1).Offensiveness. An AOV for ratings of offensiveness showed that females rated the jokes in their against-female form as more offensive (M = 2.37) than the same jokes in their against-male form (M = 1.74), but little difference was found in offensiveness ratings by males, (MBiased against females = 1.87 vs. MBiased

against males = 1.76), F(1, 46) = 9.19, p < .01, Figure 2).

Figure 2

Figure 1