Effects of hostility arousal and aggressive humor on catharsis and humor preference.

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Abstract
Tested 3 hypotheses, derived from psychoanalytic theory, regarding humor and catharsis following a hostility-arousal manipulation. The experiment was a 2 * 2 factorial design with 2 levels of hostility arousal (high and low) and aggressive humor (presence or absence), with a group factor nested within arousal. 112 undergraduates served as Ss. As predicted, arousal Ss given aggressive humor rated the E significantly less negatively than aroused Ss not given the aggressive humor. However, contrary to expectation, aroused Ss did not show an increased preference for either hostile or racial wit jokes when compared to nonaroused controls. The evidence above for a catharsis effect is discussed with reference to the conflicting results of previous catharsis studies. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

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