Effect of alcoholic intoxication on the appreciation of different types of humor.

Placed 36 male undergraduates into 1 of 3 intoxication conditions (no ethanol, low dose, high dose) and exposed them to humorous segments from TV programs. During manifest intoxication or the corresponding period in the no-intoxication (control) condition, they were exposed, in a balanced order, to a segment containing blunt (i.e., unsophisticated, raw) humor and to a segment containing subtle (i.e., sophisticated, refined) humor. Ss' facial reactions to the humorous stimuli were unobtrusively recorded and later analyzed by judges who were naive about the experimental conditions. Ss also rated the funniness of the segments. The perceived funniness of blunt humor was found to increase with ethanol intoxication. For subtle humor, in contrast, perceived funniness decreased with intoxication. This divergent interaction of reported humor appreciation was less apparent in the analysis of facial expressiveness. Although correlations between ratings and aspects of facial expression were generally positive, clearly corroborative support for the humor appraisal was found only in the frequency of smiles in response to subtle humor. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)