Cues and Clues: How Humor Targets Classify Joker Intent

Abstract

While both prosocial teases and aggressive jokes are characterized by a humorous provocation, a tease is intended to communicate face-protective information or general affiliation while an aggressive joke is intended to socially demean the target. Thus, when targeted by a joke, people must judge whether the intention behind the joke is affiliative or aggressive. To interpret the intention behind a joke, the target must consider information such as “off-record marker” usage and the reputation of the joker. To date, however, little research has empirically tested how these factors affect attributions about jokes and the people who tell them. In the first study, participants (N = 563) took the role of a worker targeted by their boss’s joke. This joke was either accompanied by two off-record markers (i.e., a wink and a laugh) or none. Participants teased with off-record markers rated the joker as less aggressive and more affiliative. In the second study, participants (N = 174) were similarly targeted by a joke, but participants received either an ambiguous off-record marker (i.e., “a laugh”) or an unambiguous off-record marker (i.e., “a reassuring wink”) as well as reputational knowledge of the commenter as either a known joker or not. Participants targeted by unambiguous off-record markers, indeed, rated the commenter as less aggressive and more affiliative than those targeted by ambiguous off-record markers. No evidence was found, however, that the commenter’s reputation as a joker or the interaction of off-record marker ambiguity and reputation impacted perceptions of the commenter. These findings support the idea that off-record markers affect the perception of prosocial teasing.