STRUCTURAL INCONGRUITY AND HUMOR APPRECIATION

The debate concerning incongruity as a sufficient, i.e., nonsense (NON) or merely a necessary, i.e., incongruity-resolution (INC-RES) stimulus structure for humor is examined. A correlational study evaluated. The role of personality dependent tolerance for ambiguity (conservatism, sensation seeking, need for cognition) as a predictor of appreciation for humor structure. Mixed results show INC-RES rated as significantly funnier than NON and nonsignificant personality predictions for differential appreciation of humor structure with need for cognition the least relevant. Experiments 1 and 2 evaluated the roles of personality, structural salience and context effects on humor appreciation. Both experiments indicate that NON and INC-RES are perceived as distinct humor structures and this structural distinction leads to higher funniness and higher aversiveness ratings for INC-RES than for NON. Funniness ratings increase with priming exposure, however, and aversiveness ratings remained constant or decreased. Experiments 1 and 2 also demonstrate that the presentation of NON in the context of INC-RES can significantly disrupt the priming of appreciation for NON. © 1995, Walter de Gruyter