Publication Date

2024

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

McCarthy, Randy J.

Degree Name

M.A. (Master of Arts)

Legacy Department

Department of Psychology

Abstract

When targeted by a joke, the target has an evaluation to make: is this joke an affiliative tease or an aggressive joke? While both are characterized by a humorous but relevant provocation, a tease is intended to communicate face-protective information or general affiliation (e.g., Keltner, 2001) while an aggressive joke is intended to enhance the self by socially demeaning another (e.g., Martin et al., 2003). The target must engage in everyday mind-reading in an attempt to accurately classify such a joke, considering information such as off-record marker usage and the reputation of the commenter, but little research has been done to empirically test such assertions. The present thesis compiled data from 174 participants who took the role of a student targeted by an ambiguous joke in one of four vignettes. Despite receiving the same, targeted joke, 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, perceived the commenter as less aggressive and more affiliative than those targeted by ambiguous off-record markers. No evidence was found, however, that the reputation of the commenter as a joker or the interaction of off-record marker ambiguity and reputation impacted perceptions of the commenter. While future studies may find greater success with heightened realism (e.g., recall-based methodology), these results find early evidence of the efficacy of off-record markers regarding the perception of pro-social teasing.

Extent

69 pages

Language

en

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

Download

Share

COinS