Fahlbusch, Madeleine_Final Manuscript

1Running head: WEIGHT AND GENDER AFFECTS PERCEIVED FUNNINESS

How Weight and Gender Affect a Comedian’s Perceived Funniness and Likability

Madeleine R. Fahlbusch

Xavier University

2WEIGHT AND GENDER AFFECTS PERCEIVED FUNNINESS

Self-deprecating humor involves denigrating or belittling one’s own characteristics to elicit

laughs (Janes & Olson, 2000). Although self-deprecating humor is common, it risks drawing at-

tention to “stigmatized characteristics” and diminishing the self-deprecator’s status in the eyes of

others (Lundy et al., 1998). The current study examines the effects of comedians’ characteristics

on the perceived funniness of self-deprecating humor. Using advertisements for an on-campus

comedy show, comedians’ characteristics (i.e., gender and weight) was conveyed through self-

deprecating jokes, and undergraduates rated how funny and likable they anticipated the comedi-

ans to be. Overweight female comedians are expected to be less funny and less likable, (reflect-

ing their “layered stigma”) than their male or non-overweight counterparts. Results suggested

that the use of self-deprecating humor by female comedians caused participants to perceive them

as more funny than male comedians because society is accepting of a female belittling herself

but is not as accepting when it is being done by a male. The results generalized to the under-

standing for why some comedians are perceived as more funny and likability than others.

How Weight and Gender Affects Perceived Funniness

In the 2012 movie Pitch Perfect, overweight actress/comedian Rebel Wilson plays a char-

acter that goes by the moniker of “Fat Amy” and is the only character in the movie whose weight

is discussed (Chen, 2012). Melissa McCarthy, another prominent overweight actress/comedian,

has frequently been dubbed by the media as “America’s Plus-Sized Sweetheart” (Lang, 2014, p.

1). Popular culture often focuses on overweight female entertainers’ physiques. Fortunately,

there is evidence that womens' reputation in society is changing. In the past century, women

have gained the right to vote, there are more women receiving a college diploma than ever before

(Jeffrey, 2012), and a woman has had the ability to announce that she is running for president.

In the current study, female comedians, particularly overweight female comedians, may be per-


ceived as less funny than male comedians of any weight. The study’s purpose is to examine if

people are more likely to find a joke funny if it is told by a male comedian rather than a female

comedian, especially if the female comedian is overweight.

The gender inequality that exists in society could have implications for why individuals

find certain jokes to be funny. For example, Provine (1996) examined whether gender plays a

role in how much laughter a joke receives. Specifically, Provine assessed how many laughs

male and female speakers received while eavesdropping on people’s conversations. The results

revealed that both genders, when hearing a joke, laughed more when the speaker was a male

rather than a female. This finding is important because Provine (1996) concluded that the reason

male speakers receive more laughs than female speakers is because laughing is a subconsciously

submissive act. This is important because women are expected to behave in a submissive man-

ner towards men. The results are showing that this behavior even extends to a woman’s sense of

humor. The result that females laugh more in response to a male speaker suggests that females

are subconsciously aware that they are the less powerful sex. This conclusion could explain why

male comedians experience more popularity than female comedians (Feeney, 2013). Males, as

the more dominant sex, do not feel this same pressure so they do not laugh as readily at a joke a

female tells.

The world of comedy has historically been a male-dominated field. Perhaps then, unsur-

prisingly, the notion that males are more successful at making people laugh is not new. Shep-

pard (1985) examined society’s liking of female and male comedians in the mid-1970s and in the

early 1980s. Sheppard hypothesized that participants would like male comedians more than fe-

male comedians. He predicted this because historically, gender stereotypes have limited the

widespread success of female comedians. In the study, one hundred and thirty-four participants


were shown a video tape that depicted three to four minute clips featuring five popular female

comedians and five popular male comedians. The researchers did not control for the content of

the jokes. After viewing the entire tape, participants were asked to rate the funniness of each co-

median on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (dislike very much) to 5 (like very much).

When the participants’ ratings for each comedian were averaged, the results revealed that out of

the ten comedians presented in the video clips, only one female comedian (Lily Tomlin) was in-

cluded in the top five most well-liked. Thus, in the comedic world thirty to forty years ago, male

comedians were liked more than female comedians.

In addition to female comedians being perceived as less funny than male comedians, the

weight of a comedian has been shown to impact perceived funniness. Sutherland (2004) wrote a

thought piece on Gwyneth Paltrow’s role in the movie Shallow Hal where she played both a thin,

attractive woman (from the perspective of Jack Black’s character) and a three hundred pound

woman (from the other movie characters’ perspectives). The audience sees Gwyneth Paltrow’s

character with a slender body for the majority of the movie, while every character in the movie,

besides the one played by Jack Black, reacts to her as though she is obese. Sutherland (2004)

also suspects that one reason the subject matter in the movie is perceived to be humorous is be-

cause Paltrow’s character acts in a sensual manner. She does so despite having an overweight

body type. This is seen as foreign and laughably strange to the audience because society has

been conditioned to believe that overweight individuals are not sexy and when the attempt is

made it is uncomfortably funny. Society finds it easy to laugh at the way overweight females ac-

tresses/comedians look, but finds it harder to take these women seriously and laugh at the content

they are actually saying.


Unfortunately, fat stigmatization jokes are a regular occurrence in today’s television

shows and movies. Because jokes that belittle the physiques of overweight individuals are so

common (Chen, 2012), they may condition impressionable younger viewers to believe that these

kinds of jokes are acceptable (Freeman, 2012). In theory, if children are exposed to examples of

fat stigmatization in movies and television shows, they will be more likely to stigmatize over-

weight individuals (Himes & Thompson, 2007). This early conditioning could potentially ex-

plain why society does not take overweight comedians as seriously as non-overweight comedi-

ans. To highlight how commonplace fat stigmatization jokes are for younger television viewers,

Himes and Thompson (2007) examined the prevalence of jokes relating to fat stigmatization in

modern movies and television shows. Vignettes were used that involved examples of characters

from movies and television shows saying a derogatory statement about another character (e.g.,

“That girl I’m coaching is a fatty” from the movie Shallow Hal). One hundred and thirty-five vi-

gnettes depicting media’s examples of fat stigmatization were used in the study. Specifically,

each vignette was evaluated based on seven categories: gender of the person telling the joke,

gender of the target of the joke, age of the person telling the joke, age of the target of the joke,

whether the target of the joke is an individual or a group of people, whether the joke was direct

or indirect, and whether the joke was verbal or non-verbal. Results revealed that male characters

were three times more likely to tell a joke that reflects fat stigmatization than female characters.

Results also revealed that the majority of the fat stigmatizing was expressed verbally. Further-

more, the most common occurrence of fat stigmatization within television and movies was a

male making a joke towards an individual female. These results reveal that it is relatively com-

mon for male characters to victimize overweight female characters which is harmful behavioral

modeling for young viewers.


Fouts and Burggraf (1999) examined the amount of positive and negative comments, as

well as positive and negative self-comments, that women who were the main characters of their

television shows received regarding their body weight. Two trained observers participated in the

study. Participants coded twenty-eight situation comedies based on the categories of age, body

weight, and dieting. For the age category, participants coded which age group the female main

characters belonged to (e.g., teenager, 20 - 35, 36 - 50, 50+). For the body weight category, par-

ticipants coded whether the weight of each female main character was below average, average,

or above average. For the dieting category, participants coded whether the female main charac-

ters displayed behavior that would imply that they were dieting or talked about the fact that they

were dieting. Results revealed that the most common age group (50+) and a very common body

weight range (above average) were underrepresented in situation comedies on TV and that the 20

- 35 age group and the below average body weight range were overrepresented compared to the

actual female population. 69% of female main characters on TV were in the 20 - 35 age group

and 33% being below average weight which are percentages that do not reflect the general fe-

male population. Interestingly, the dieting category was reflective of the general female popula-

tion as many of the female main characters dieted but so do many women in reality. This experi-

ment’s results also reveal that female main characters receive most positive feedback from male

characters as opposed to from other female characters. This could lead to young viewers to infer

that males are most likely to reward them with positive feedback on their bodies, particularly if

they have a below average weight.

Kuiper and Leite (2010) examined whether or not the style of humor that a person has in-

fluences the way others perceive their personality to be. 166 participants enrolled in the psychol-

ogy program at the University of Western Ontario took part in the study. Participants were as-


signed to one of three conditions: the high humor style condition, the low humor style condition,

and the typical university student condition. In the high humor style condition, participants were

to assess the personality of a person who utilized a diverse amount of humor styles. In the low

humor style condition, participants were to assess the personality of a person who does not uti-

lize a diverse amount of humor styles. In the typical university student condition, participants

were to assess the personality of an average college student. Results revealed that individuals

with a more diverse humor style were rated more favorably by participants than individuals with

less diverse humor styles.

Fouts and Burggraf (2000) examined the audience reactions to a character in a situational

comedy being made fun of by another character for their weight. 36 participants were recruited

to take part of the experiment as coders. Coders were responsible for coding different aspects of

media depictions of body shape and insults aimed at that: body weight, negative verbal com-

ments that a female character received from male characters on the TV show, and the audience

reaction to these negative comments. Results revealed that 14% of female main characters on

TV shows received insults about their body shape from male characters.

Purpose and Significance of the Current Study

The purpose of the present study was to examine if a comedian’s weight and gender af-

fected his or her perceived funniness and likability ratings. It was hypothesized that non-over-

weight comedians would be perceived as more funny and more likable than overweight comedi-

ans. It was also hypothesized that male comedians would be perceived as more funny and more

likable than female comedians. Finally, it was hypothesized that non-overweight female comedi-


ans would be perceived as more funny and more likable than overweight female comedians,

however, the weight of male comedians would not affect his or her perceived funniness or lika-

bility. The study attempts to add to the existing research on society’s perceptions that male co-

medians are funnier and more likable than female comedians and the fat stigmatization against

females that may help to explain this phenomenon.

Method

Participants

Approximately 120 undergraduate students enrolled in Psychology courses at Xavier

University will be recruited to participate via the School of Psychology’s participant pool (see

Appendix C). The study was conducted in classrooms on the Xavier University campus and par-

ticipants received fifteen minutes of participant pool credit for their involvement in the study.

Design

This study was a 2 (Comedian Weight: Overweight vs. Non-overweight) x 2 (Gender:

Male vs. Female) between-subjects design. The independent variables were the comedian’s

weight and gender and the dependent variables are perceived funniness and perceived likability.

Materials

Comedian flyers. Four flyers, created for use in this study, portrayed a comedian’s gen-

der and weight through self-deprecating jokes (see Appendices D, E, F, and G, respectively).

Specifically, the flyers advertised a performance by a fake comedian who is supposedly perform-

ing on Xavier University’s campus. The jokes presented on the flyer reflected self-deprecating

humor about the comedian’s weight and gender, and served as the medium for which participants

were exposed to the study’s independent variables.


Social attraction measure. To assess individuals’ social attraction to (funniness of) the

comedians, participants rated 25 qualities (adapted from Cann & Calhoun, 2001), on a scale

ranging from 1 (Disagree a Lot) to 6 (Agree a Lot) (see Appendix H). Fifteen of the qualities

were reverse scored before all 25 qualities were averaged, with higher scores being more per-

ceived funniness of the comedian.

Other human orientation measure. To assess individuals’ opinions about how funny

they find a comedian, thirteen statements were adapted from Booth-Butterfield and Booth-But-

terfield’s (1996) Humor Orientation scale (see Appendix I). Participants rate the statements on a

scale ranging from 1 (Disagree a Lot) to 6 (Agree a Lot). Four statements were reverse scored.

All scores were averaged, with higher scores being greater social attraction (i.e., perceived funni-

ness).

Procedure

The study was conducted in small groups as a 2 x 2 between-subjects design. Prior to participa-

tion in the study, all participants were informed of the purpose of the research and complete an

informed consent document (see Appendix A). A demographics questionnaire (see Appendix K)

was then completed. Subsequently, participants were randomly assigned to read one of four fly-

ers created to operationalize the key independent variables in the current study: under or over-

weight female comedian and under overweight male comedian. After completing the tasks, the

participants were thanked and debriefed (see Appendix B).


Appendix A

Informed Consent

PROJECT TITLE: How Characteristics of Comedians Affect Their Funniness

INVESTIGATOR: Madeleine Fahlbusch

You are being asked to participate in a research project conducted by Madeleine Fahlbusch through Xavier University’s School of Psychology. This study is being conducted in partial ful-fillment of the course requirements for PY222 (Research Methods & Design II), taught by Dr. Tammy Sonnentag.

This project investigates individuals’ opinions of the funniness of a comedian. Your participa-tion in this study will involve reading a flier advertising a comedian’s performance on campus and then completing a questionnaire about your perceptions of the comedian. This study should take approximately 15 minutes to complete. You will be given a copy of this informed consent to keep.

RISKS/BENEFITS: There are no known or anticipated risks related to your participation in this study. Your responses are anonymous and therefore cannot be linked to you. Responses will be coded by participant number only and aggregated data will be used in any reporting of results of this study. You will receive 15 minutes of participant pool credit for your involvement in the study.


TERMS OF PARTICIPATION: I understand that this project is research and that my partici-pation is completely voluntary. I also understand that if I decide to participate in this study, I am free to withdraw from the study at any time, however I will not receive participant pool credit. My refusal to participate in this study will have no effect on any future services to which I may be entitled at Xavier University. I understand that I am under no obligation to participate.

If you have any questions during the study, you may contact the researcher, Madeleine Fahlbusch, at [email protected], or the professor supervising this study, Dr. Tammy Son-nentag, at [email protected]. If any questions arise over your rights as a research partici-pant, you may contact Xavier University’s Institutional Review Board at (513) 745-2870.

I have been given information about this research study and its risks and benefits and have had the opportunity to ask questions and to have my questions answered to my satisfaction. By com-pleting the survey, I freely give my consent to participate in this study.


Appendix B

Debriefing Form

Thank you for participating in this study. The study you just completed focuses on factors (i.e., gender and weight) that influence individuals’ perceptions of a comedian’s funniness and likabil-ity. We hope that by conducting this study, we will develop a better understanding of the factors that influence individuals’ perceptions of a comedian when the comedian uses self-deprecating humor.

Please keep the purpose of this study confidential and do not disclose any information about this study to other potential participants.

If you have any questions or concerns about this study, or if you wish to inquire about the results of this study, you may contact the researcher, Madeleine Fahlbusch, at [email protected], or the professor supervising this study, Dr. Tammy Sonnentag, at [email protected]. If you have questions about your rights as a research participant, please contact Xavier University’s In-stitutional Review Board at (513) 745-2870.

Thank you for your participation!

mailto:[email protected]


Appendix C

Recruitment of Participants

Title of Study: Rating the Funniness of Comedians

Description of Activities: After reviewing an informed consent document, you will be asked to read a flier advertising a comedian coming to perform on campus. You will then be asked to complete a measure assessing your perceptions of the comedian.

Researcher Email: [email protected]

Time, Date, Location: TBA (Elet Hall classrooms)

Research Credit: 15 minutes

(Dis)qualifiers: Participants must be 18 years of age or older to participate.

Instructions: To participate in this study, please clearly print your name, your professor’s name, and the course you are earning this research participation.

YOUR NAME: YOUR PROFESSOR ’ S NAME COURSE

1. _____________________ ___________________________ ____________

2. _____________________ ___________________________ ____________

3. _____________________ ___________________________ ____________

4. _____________________ ___________________________ ____________

5. _____________________ ___________________________ ____________

6. _____________________ ___________________________ ____________

7. _____________________ ___________________________ ____________


Appendix D


Female Non-Overweight

Appendix E


Female Overweight

Appendix F


Male Non-Overweight

Appendix G


Male Overweight


*Descriptions are same name as variable name*Appendix H

Social Attraction (Likability)

INSTRUCTIONS: Below is a scale ranging from 1 (Disagree a Lot) to 6 (Agree a Lot). Please indicate how much you disagree or agree with each statement by writing in the number next to each statement that best reflects your opinion. Remember, there are no right or wrong answers; we are only interested in your opinion.

———————————————————————————————————————

DISAGREE DISAGREE DISAGREE AGREE AGREE AGREE

A LOT SOMEWHAT A LITTLE A LITTLE SOMEWHAT A LOT

1 2 3 4 5 6

———————————————————————————————————————

1. _______ Self-centered. (-)

2. _______ Imaginative.

3. _______ Deceitful. (-)

4. _______ Interesting.

5. _______ Vain. (-)

6. _______ Creative.

7. _______ Complaining. (-)

8. _______ Pleasant.

9. _______ Troubled. (-)

10. _______ Friendly.

11. _______ Phony. (-)

12. _______ Clever.

13. _______ Mean. (-)

14. _______ Impulsive.

15. _______ Spiteful. (-)

16. _______ Perceptive.

17. _______ Rude. (-)

18. _______ Admirable.

19. _______ Insecure. (-)

20. _______ Intelligent.

21. _______ Belligerent. (-)

22. ________ Lazy. (-)

23. ________ Shallow. (-)

24. ________ Cold. (-)

25. ________ Tiresome. (-)

Note. (-) indicates a reversed keyed item.


Appendix I

Other Humor Orientation (Funniness)

Adapted from Booth‐Butterfield and Booth‐Butterfield (1996)

INSTRUCTIONS: Below is a scale ranging from 1 (Disagree a Lot) to 6 (Agree a Lot). Please indicate how much you disagree or agree with each statement by writing in the number next to each statement that best reflects your opinion. Remember, there are no right or wrong answers; we are only interested in your opinion.

———————————————————————————————————————

DISAGREE DISAGREE DISAGREE AGREE AGREE AGREE

A LOT SOMEWHAT A LITTLE A LITTLE SOMEWHAT A LOT

1 2 3 4 5 6

1. ________ This comedian regularly tells jokes and funny stories. OH12. ________ People usually laugh when this comedian tells a joke or story. OH23. ________ This comedian is funny without having to rehearse a joke. OH34. ________ Being funny is a natural communication style for this comedian. OH45. ________ This comedian cannot tell a joke well. (-) OH56. ________ People seldom ask this comedian to tell a joke. (-) OH67. ________ Others would say that this comedian is a funny person. OH78. ________ People don’t seem to play close attention when this comedian tells a joke. (-) OH89. ________ Even funny jokes seem flat when this comedian tells them. OH910.________ People often ask this comedian to tell a joke or story. OH1011.________ Others would not say that this comedian is a funny person. (-) OH1112.________ This comedian tells stories and jokes very well. OH1213.________ Of all the people I know, this comedian is one of the funniest. OH13

Note. (-) indicates a reversed keyed item.


Appendix J

Script

Hello, everyone. Thank you for coming today to take part in my study. My name is Madeleine

Fahlbusch, and I am an undergraduate student here at Xavier University.

Today I am going to ask you to help me by participating in a study I am conducting. Today’s

study examines individuals’ perceptions of comedian’s funniness. You will all be given a flyer

that advertises a comedy show coming to campus as well as two questionnaires to carefully read

through and answer. Before we begin, I want to tell you that all of the answers you give today

will be anonymous, as your name will not appear anywhere on your answer sheets. So, please

answer as honestly as you can. Do you have any questions so far?

Okay, we are ready to get started. The first form I am handing out is an informed consent. Please

read through the consent form carefully and, if you agree to participate in this study, please turn

the form over when you’re ready to move on (you do NOT need to sign this form). Please do not

put your name on this form or any form you complete today. You will be given a copy of the

form to take home if you want one.

(PASS OUT DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION FORM)

Is everyone ready to move on? Great. Now you are receiving a demographic information ques-

tionnaire. This questionnaire asks you to indicate your sex, class year, and age. Remember, your

responses are anonymous; your name is not, and will not be, associated with your data. When

you have completed the demographic form, please turn the form over so I know when you are

ready to move on.


Is everyone done with the demographic information questionnaire? Good. I am now going to

hand out the comedy show flyer. Please read through the information on the flyer very carefully.

(PASS OUT FLYERS — EITHER NON-OVERWEIGHT FEMALE, NON-OVERWEIGHT

MALE, OVERWEIGHT FEMALE, OR OVERWEIGHT MALE CONDITIONS)

Has everyone had a chance to review the flyer? Good. I am now going to hand out two question-

naires. Please read through the directions carefully and answer as honestly as you can. There are

no right or wrong answers, we are only interested in your opinion. You are able to re-examine

the comedy show flyer as you complete the questionnaires. When you are done, please flip the

flyer and both questionnaires over so I know you are ready to move on.

(PASS OUT QUESTIONNAIRE -- OTHER HUMOR ORIENTATION & SOCIAL ATTRAC-

TION)

Is everyone done with the questionnaire? Good. You are now done with the study. Please leave

the questionnaires on your desk and I will come around and collect them after you leave. Before

you leave, however, I need to briefly go over some additional information with you.

(PASS OUT & READ THE DEBRIEFING FORM)

Thank you again for participating in this study and have a good rest of the day.

(Distribute participation slips; record and submit participation record so that credit can be assigned)

Appendix K

Demographic Information


Gender (circle one): Male Female Prefer Not to Respond

Age: _______ Prefer Not to Respond

Year in School:

First Year Second Year Third Year Fourth Year Prefer Not to Respond


Results

To test the hypothesis that overweight female comedians would be perceived as less

funny than non-overweight or male comedians, a 2 (Gender of Comedian) x 2 (Weight of Come-

dian) between-subjects ANOVA was conducted. The main effect of Gender of Comedian was

significant, F( 1 , 121 ) = 4.21 , p = .04, revealing that female comedians (M = 3.58, SD = .89 )

were perceived as funnier than male comedians (M = 3.23, SD = .97 ). The main effect of

Weight of the Comedian was not significant, F( 1 , 121 ) = .87 , p = .35, revealing that over-

weight comedians (M = 3.50 , SD = 1.01 ) were not perceived as more or less funny than average

weight comedians (M = 3.33 , SD = .88 ). The interaction between Gender of Comedian and

Weight of Comedian was not significant, F( 1 , 121 ) = .30 , p = .59.

To test the hypothesis that overweight female comedians would be perceived as less lik-

able than non-overweight or male comedians, a 2 (Gender of Comedian) x 2 (Weight of Come-

dian) between-subjects ANOVA was conducted. The main effect of Gender of Comedian was

not significant, F( 1 , 121 ) = .16 , p = .69, revealing that male comedians (M = 3.15 , SD = .78 )

were not perceived as more or less likable than female comedians (M = 3.22 , SD = 1.10 ). The

main effect of Weight of the Comedian was also not significant, F( 1 , 121 ) = .33 , p = .57, re-

vealing that overweight comedians (M = 3.24 , SD = .78 ) were not perceived as more or less lik-

able than average weight comedians (M = 3.13 , SD = 1.11 ). The interaction between Gender of

Comedian and Weight of Comedian was not significant, F( 1 , 121 ) = .19 , p = .66.


Table 1

Means (and Standard Deviations) for the Interaction Between Weight of a Comedian and

Gender of a Comedian on Social Attraction

Average Overweight

Gender of Comedian

Female 3.13 3.31

Male 3.14 3.16


Table 2

Means (and Standard Deviations) for the Interaction Between Weight of a Comedian and

Gender of a Comedian on Funniness

Average Overweight

Gender of Comedian

Female 3.55 3.61

Male 3.11 3.36

Discussion

The major purpose of the study was to test whether the weight and/or gender of a

comedian had an effect on how likable and funny they were perceived to be. Overall, the

major findings were that the weight of a comedian has no effect on how likable or funny

they are perceived to be, the gender of a comedian has no effect on how likable they are

perceived but female comedians were perceived as funnier than male comedians. There

was no effect between the interaction of a comedian’s weight and a comedian’s gender on

how likable or how funny they were perceived to be.

To put the results of the study in practical terms, it does not matter if a comedian is

overweight or average/underweight in terms of how much an audience likes them or finds

them to be funny. It also does not matter if a comedian is male or female in terms of how

much an audience likes them. It does, however, matter if a comedian is male or female in

terms of how funny an audience perceives them to be because the study found that female

comedians are funnier than male comedians. The reasoning behind the fact that weight

and gender did not play a role in how likable a comedian is perceived to be and that weight


also did not play a role in how funny a comedian is perceived to be is the fact that for most

people, the comedians that they consider to be their favorites are characteristically very di-

verse and look quite different from one another (Rozek, 2015). For example, many people

find Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Amy Schumer, and Ellen Degeneres to be very likable and

funny comedians despite the fact that they are of differing genders and body types. Most

people appreciate their favorite comedians for their unique brand of comedy which is a fac-

tor that helps a comedian gain fame (Rozek, 2015). The reason behind the fact that female

comedians are perceived to be funnier than male comedians could be because the study

only used jokes that reflected a self-deprecating style of humor (Merrill, 1988). Perhaps

society finds female comedians to be more funny when using self-deprecating humor be-

cause they are perceived to be the weaker sex so it is viewed as acceptable when they point

out their flaws and short-comings. This does not hold true for male comedians possibly be-

cause society still holds males to the expectation that they should portray themselves as

tough and in control. Society does not perceive male comedians using self-deprecating hu-

mor to be as funny as female comedians using self-deprecating humor because the humor

style goes against typical gender norms so their jokes therefore do not seem as true to an

audience. The jokes that are typically found to be most funny are jokes that have an ele-

ment of truth to them (Feltmate, 2013).

A significant limitation for the study was that it was difficult to find jokes that uti-

lized self-deprecating humor in reference to being skinny so I was unable to select from a

lot of jokes for my skinny comedian condition simply because they just do not exist. A sug-

gestion for future research would be to replicate the study but instead feature jokes that do

not utilize self-deprecating humor while still making it clear what characteristics each co-


median possessed (i.e. their weight, their gender). The reasoning is that self-deprecating

humor perhaps did not translate well on paper. The only significant result that was

achieved as that the female comedians were rated by the participants as being funnier than

the male comedians. Therefore, there might be a connection to self-deprecating humor and

the result that female comedians were rated as funnier. By not using jokes that reflect self-

deprecating humor in a future study, one could study if female comedians are still rated as

funnier than male comedians. One aspect that I would carry out differently in my study is

that I would have a male and a female record the jokes out loud for participants to listen to

so that the jokes could potentially translate better. Participants might have perceived the

self-deprecating humor as depressing as opposed to humorous when reading the jokes on

the flyers.

What I want the reader to remember from my study is that its results contrast my

original hypothesis. Being overweight and/or a female did not result in a comedian being

perceived as less funny or less likable than their average weight and male counterparts. In

fact, female comedians were perceived as more funny than male comedians. This could be

viewed optimistically because it could potentially mean that society is not as shallow re-

garding their comedic preferences as might have been presumed. The study demonstrated

that gender and weight does not impact how likable a comedian was perceived and weight

does not impact how funny a comedian is perceived to be but gender does have an impact

on how funny a comedian is perceived to be because female comedians were found to be

funnier than male comedians. The study adds to the literature because it provides more

optimistic results compared to most studies involving gender and especially weight. In-

stead of females or overweight individuals being perceived more negatively, these factors


were either viewed the same as or more favorably than the other conditions in the study.

The study was important because it demonstrates that the content of the jokes was judged

more than the way the comedians looked. It also proved that comedy is a field where fe-

males are actually viewed as more competent at their job than males which is uncommon.

The study provides researchers new information about why humans find jokes to be funny

and the degree to which is has to do with the appearance of the comedian telling the joke

and how likable they are perceived to be.


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http://penguin.com/

Documents

Fahlbusch, Madeleine_Final Manuscript