Several other hypotheses derived from Freud’ s theory of humor also have
been supported in empirical studies. For example, if hostile humor allows us
to satisfy aggressive impulses, we should find a joke funnier when it pokes
fun at a person or group we don’ t like. Several investigations find support
for this prediction (Wicker, Barron, & Willis, 1980; Zillmann, Bryant, &
Cantor, 1974). Men and women in one study were presented with a series of
hostile jokes and cartoons (Mundorf, Bhatia, Zillmann, Lester, & Robertson,
1988). Some of the material ridiculed men, whereas other jokes and cartoonsmade fun of women. Consistent with Freud ’s observations, men found humor
that targeted women funnier than humor that aimed at men, whereas thewomen enjoyed humor that put down men more than humor that made funof women.
Two predictions from Freud ’s theory are particularly intriguing because
at first glance they appear to defy common sense. These have to do with theeffect of hostile humor and how anxiety affects how funny we find a joke.
Reducing Aggression with Hostile Humor
We’ve often heard that humor can turn away anger. Suppose you were con-
fronted with an angry person and wanted to defuse the situation with a joke.What kind would you tell —one with obvious hostile content or an innocent,
nonhostile joke? Common sense tells you to try the nonhostile joke. But
Freud made the opposite prediction. Remember, Freud said that hostile hu-
mor provides a cathartic release of tension. If that is the case, hostile humormight do the trick better than nonhostile humor.
Although counterintuitive, several investigations find support for Freud’ s
prediction. Participants in one study were insulted by the investigator andthen read a series of either hostile or nonhostile jokes (Leak, 1974). When
later asked what they thought about the insulting investigator, the partici-
pants who read the hostile jokes were less angry than those who read thenonhostile jokes. Angry participants in another study read cartoons that ex-
pressed hostility toward women (Baron, 1978b). Later these participants
were given the opportunity to administer electric shocks to a woman under
the guise of a learning experiment. These participants gave less intense and
shorter shocks than angry participants who had not seen the cartoons.
However, other investigations find the relationship between humor and
aggression is not that simple. Angry participants in one study were exposedto a hostile comedy routine and became more hostile toward a person who
had insulted them (Berkowitz, 1970). In another investigation, angry partici-
pants allowed to shock an unseen victim gave more electric shocks after read-
ing hostile cartoons than those who read nonhostile cartoons (Baron, 1978a).
In short, hostile humor sometimes reduces aggressiveness, yet other times in-
creases it.
So what ’s going on here? Quite possibly, as Freud speculated, hostile hu-
mor defuses aggressive tendencies in s ome situations. But hostile humor has the
potential to do more than reduce tension. For example, as discussed in Chapter
14, people often imitate aggressive models. Thus the aggression described in
hostile jokes or shown in cartoons might be imitated by an angry reader.Humor 83