Styles in humour and social self-images

Abstract.— The three-dimensional Sense-of-Humour Questionnaire (SHQ) was coordinated with items based upon social self-image related to three styles in humour-"funny" wit, "sarcastic" wit, and "mixed" wit. The total questionnaire was answered by male and female students in college (average age: 17) and teacher's certificate school (average age: 25) to test the relationship between social self-image and sense of humour at different age levels. The social self-image of college women proved highly loaded on the "funny" style compared with college males. A two-way analysis of variance (sex by age) revealed a strong sex effect on the "sarcastic" category (males high). "Mixed" wit yielded an interaction effect: high scores in college males and teacher females. Males and older subjects (teaching students) tended to associate high senstivity to humorous messages and emotional impulsiveness with the "sarcastic" style. Women who scored high on "mixed" wit favoured the humorist as a general social stereotype. A sex difference in development trends from adolescence to adulthood was indicated the way that females changed from "funny" to "mixed" wit and males from "mixed" to "sarcastic" wit.