Debrief

You were just involved in a small study on the psychology of humor. Humor is a tough thing to study, but that hasn't stopped humor researchers. One thing they've found about almost all jokes: they work in part because they make us feel superior to others.

The other reason we differ in how we react to a joke is the extent to which the joke addresses something relevant and anxiety provoking to ourselves. Research shows that young folks think the "Fortune Telling" joke is funnier than the "Hard of Hearing" joke and vice versa. We suspect that your ratings of these two jokes depended in part on your age.

It is said that comedians have to "know their audience" - they have to present material that might address the very things their audience is anxious about.

Take a look at the results of this study

Resources:

Wiseman, Richard. Quirkology: How We Discover the Big Truths in Small Things. New York: Basic Books, 2007.
Instructor-only resources are available for this study on the Cengage Higher Ed Faculty Community in our Community Exclusive area here: Humor Study - Instructor Resources). This section of the community is for instructors only. If you do not have a Cengage account, feel free to contact Michael Britt (michael.britt@cengage.com) to have a free account set up for you.