Abstract

The present study examines the extent to which the impression of funniness conveyed by political jokes is influenced by the disparaging contents of the jokes. Jokes directed against conservative politicians and jokes directed against left-wing politicians were judged by 152 participants of different ages and political orientations. As content predictors of joke judgment, measures of political orientation were collected, including conservatism, party preference and perceived likeability of conservative and left-wing politicians. Furthermore, the appreciation of different structures of humor was determined using the 3 WD humor test (Ruch 1995). The results of structural equation analyses provide evidence for a strong and substantial influence of political orientation on the preference of anti-left-wing jokes compared to anti-conservative jokes. The direction of this influence is in accordance with the predictions of the disparagement theories of humor. This study supports the impact of disparaging humor contents on the perceived funniness of political jokes.