Moral Evaluations of Humor Apply Beyond Just Those Telling the Joke

Abstract

Humor involves both joke-tellers and listeners, both of whom are subject to observers' evaluations. Past research has suggested a tension between humor and morality such that moral individuals may be less humorous, and humor may promote tolerance of moral violations. Building on this work, we highlight that individuals engaging in humor are themselves subject to inferences of moral character. Joke-tellers are evaluated as less moral people when their jokes are offensive. Individuals who laugh at jokes are similarly evaluated as less moral, but only when the jokes are offensive, not clean. Across two experiments (Studies 1 and 2) using different manipulations, we found support for these effects and the mediating role of perceived norm violations. In Study 3, we further found preliminary evidence depicting nuanced similarities and differences between the effects on moral evaluations and other-person perceptions such as warmth and competence. These findings contribute to understanding of moral judgment in humor.