Psychoanalytic theory predicts that humor preference is a derivative of unresolved childhood conflicts. Analyzed students' (N=104) Rorschach protocols to yield measures of preoedipal fixation. Students ranked jokes from most to least funny. Results showed that the ranking of jokes was a function of the fixation measures for women only. (Author/RC)

Investigated humor response to aggressive cartoons using ratings of pain and funniness of cartoons by college students (n=93) and older adults (n=61). Found no significant age differences; however, sex differences were found. Females exhibited an inverted-U relationship between pain ratings and funniness ratings. For males there was no…

Tested Freud's theory that sexist humor may be associated with hostility toward women. The humor of 10 sexist jokes was rated by 399 college students. Enjoyment of sexist humor was positively correlated with rape-related attitudes and beliefs, the self-reported likelihood of forcing sex, and psychological, physical, and sexual aggression in men.…

Although humor is an important phenomenon in human interactions, it has rarely been studied in the elderly. An understanding of responses to humor in aggressive cartoons as a function of advancing age would provide information regarding both the development of humor and the negative (aggressive) emotional experiences of the elderly. This study was…

Although emotions have been widely studied, researchers have rarely focused on the elderly. Consequently, many questions remain unanswered concerning the emotions of older adults. This study examined age differences in emotional intensity of short- and long-term emotion. Older adults (N=61) and younger adult college students (N=93) completed the…