Duarte Brent, Zhang Jinguang
Department of Communicology, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, United States.
School of Journalism and Communication, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Front Psychol. 2023 Jan 11;13:1056217. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1056217. eCollection 2022.
The use of aggressive humor (e.g., teasing, schadenfreude, and sarcasm) is a spiteful behavior because it inflicts costs on both others and the self. To explain the existence of this spiteful behavior, two hypotheses derived from sexual selection theory-namely Mate-Choice and Contests-posit that the use of aggressive humor helps one attract mates or repel competitors. Both hypotheses have merit, but extant data are unable to discriminate between them.
We critically tested those two hypotheses with a survey study that measured 509 U.S. MTurkers' self-reported tendencies to use aggressive (and other types of) humor, the motives to engage in competition and courtship, and the Dark-Triad personality traits. The final sample was = 439.
We found that (1) the motive of competition but not courtship positively and significantly correlated with the self-reported tendency to use aggressive humor. (2) Subclinical psychopathy-a personality trait positively associated with competition-mediated the correlation between the motive of competition and self-reported use of aggressive humor. These results were held in both female and male respondents.
Our findings favored the Contests Hypothesis and helped reveal the psychological mechanism that generates the use of aggressive humor as a form of verbal aggression and spiteful behavior.
使用攻击性幽默（如戏弄、幸灾乐祸和讽刺）是一种恶意行为，因为它会对他人和自身都造成代价。为了解释这种恶意行为的存在，从性选择理论衍生出的两个假设——即择偶假设和竞争假设——认为使用攻击性幽默有助于吸引配偶或击退竞争对手。这两个假设都有道理，但现有数据无法区分它们。
我们通过一项调查研究对这两个假设进行了严格检验，该研究测量了509名美国亚马逊土耳其机器人（MTurkers）自我报告的使用攻击性（及其他类型）幽默的倾向、参与竞争和求爱的动机以及黑暗三性格特质。最终样本量为n = 439。
我们发现：（1）竞争动机而非求爱动机与自我报告的使用攻击性幽默的倾向呈显著正相关。（2）亚临床精神病态——一种与竞争呈正相关的人格特质——介导了竞争动机与自我报告的攻击性幽默使用之间的相关性。这些结果在女性和男性受访者中均成立。
我们的研究结果支持竞争假设，并有助于揭示产生攻击性幽默使用这种言语攻击和恶意行为形式的心理机制。
