Papers from the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology Conferences
Publication Date
11-1-2025
Abstract
Benign violation theory of humor has stood for years as a reliable explanation of what makes things funny. Nonetheless, some researchers emphasized the importance of context in various cultures. This research employs the benign violation framework to dissect the antecedents of amusement in violations that occurred in Indonesia's memetic internet content. Study 1 (N = 40) compared the effect of comedic video (vs. neutral video) on participants' perception of the degree of amusement and violation of the videos presented. The result showed that comedic video was perceived as having a higher level of violations, and the degree of amusement was positively correlated with perceived level of violations, but not with participants' sense of humor. Study 2 (N = 160) investigated the difference between casual jokes and dark jokes. Participants rated casual jokes as funnier, more amusing, more understandable, and less violating compared to dark jokes. Dark jokes were rated as funny only when participants understood the joke. Participants with a higher level of dark triad personality showed higher liking and understanding of dark jokes. In general, violations explain why jokes are funny, and personality explains why dark jokes are funny.
ScholarWorks Citation
Umam, A. N., Okti Rusliyanti, R., & Reski Oktaviani, F. (2025). Norms Violation and Dark Personality: Benign Violation Theory for Humor and Dark Humor. In Okvitawanli, A., Friedlmeier, W., & Bhangaokar, R. (Eds.). Globalization in Context. Proceedings from the 27th Congress of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology. https://doi.org/10.4087/BOJQ1588
