Queer Identities and Humor Perception
Author: Nicholas Hanson | Psychological Sciences
Abstract:
This project seeks to examine the characteristics underlying participants’ perception of various popular comedians, and to assess whether there exists a relationship among queer participants and the traits they prefer in humorists. We surveyed over 600 participants on comedians with whom they are familiar, offering a list which spanned a range of gender and sexuality identities. For each comedian, participants were asked who they found funniest, as well as least funny. We also asked for rankings about the comedians’ confidence on stage, their relatability to participants, the offensiveness of their content, and who faced the most gender-based discrimination. These data were coupled with another section of the questionnaire, wherein we asked participants to rate certain individuals in their lives on a variety of humor-related characteristics.
This sought to determine the characteristics which most easily bring someone to mind, crucially addressing the question of whether funny people are more easily brought to mind. Altogether, this allows for insights about which traits are most valued by participants. Participants provided demographic information which allows for coding for queerness in terms of gender and sexuality, and therefore a sense of whether there exist common traits that are more commonly prized in queer humor than among cisgender and heterosexual individuals. Queer humor is known to be a genre with certain themes and predilections, so this project hopes to understand whether queer individuals prefer comedians who share those sensibilities.
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