To Be or Not To Be Humorous? Cross Cultural Perspectives on Humor

Humor seems to manifest differently in Western and Eastern cultures, although little is known about how culture shapes humor perceptions. The authors suggest that Westerners regard humor as a common and positive disposition; the Chinese regard humor as a special disposition particular to humorists,...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inFrontiers in psychology Vol. 7; p. 1495
Main Authors Yue, Xiaodong, Jiang, Feng, Lu, Su, Hiranandani, Neelam
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 04.10.2016
Subjects
Chinese
cultural priming
humor evaluation
Humor perception
Psychology
Western
Western
cultural priming
Chinese
humor perception
humor evaluation
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Humor seems to manifest differently in Western and Eastern cultures, although little is known about how culture shapes humor perceptions. The authors suggest that Westerners regard humor as a common and positive disposition; the Chinese regard humor as a special disposition particular to humorists, with controversial aspects. In Study 1, Hong Kong participants primed with Western culture evaluate humor more positively than they do when primed with Chinese culture. In Study 2a, Canadians evaluate humor as being more important in comparison with Chinese participants. In Study 2b, Canadians expect ordinary people to possess humor, while Chinese expect specialized comedians to be humorous. The implications and limitations are discussed.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
This article was submitted to Cultural Psychology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology
Edited by: Vinai Norasakkunkit, Gonzaga University, USA
Reviewed by: Jenn-Yeu Chen, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan; Chris Sinha, Hunan University, UK
ISSN:1664-1078
1664-1078
DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01495