The Appreciation of Humor in Captioned Cartoons

Humor appreciation for captioned cartoons was studied as a function of cartoon category and eight predictor variables: complexity, difficulty, fit, depth, visual humor, artwork, vulgarity, and originality. Preference and funniness proved to be virtually identical as criterion variables and were combined as appreciation for further analysis. A nonmetric factor analysis of appreciation ratings yielded four dimensions: (a) Sexual, (b) Incongruity, (c) Social Issues, and (d) Marriage-Family. Sexual and Marriage-Family were the most appreciated categories, Social Issues the least appreciated. Fit and originality were the only predictor variables with significant relationships to appreciation independent of the category effect. Cartoons judged to have the most originality and the best fit between drawing and caption were most appreciated. The results suggest that the kinds of cognitive processes involved in cartoon-humor appreciation are very similar to those involved in environmental preference.