Cultural Variations in How Humour Affects Us

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If you didn’t tune into Tuesday's article “What makes something funny? The psychology and theories of humour,” make sure to check it out. All articles in this four-part series stand alone, but reading them in order will foster richer discussions.

Remember, if you become a founding member, you can tell me to make this article accessible to everyone. Actually, you can ask me to do anything that hits the sweet spot between the benign and a violation. As a founding member, you’re like a big fancy board member… but without a salary or stock options. 

In Tuesday’s article, I explained and gave examples of the benign violation theory. We now know that a violation can include social norms, moral standards, physical boundaries, or even linguistic rules. Violations create a sense of surprise, incongruity, or tension, which causes us to laugh if we feel safe. 

Finding the sweet spot between the benign and a violation is difficult enough in your own culture, but it’s a whole lot harder in a culture different from your own. Culture not only influences acceptable power and social distance but also influences the norms for expressing amusement.¹

For example, in the Ted Talk “Intercultural Guide to Humor (at Home and Abroad),” Piotre Pluta tells the following Norwegian Joke²: 

When a stranger on the street smiles at you, you assume that: a. He is drunk b. He is insane. 3. He is an American d. … all of the above. 

He goes on to explain what smiles mean to people from various cultures. For example, Polish people might think you’re stupid if you smile at them.

… And it seems they’re not the only ones.

Cohen’s d for the difference in intelligence ratings of smiling and non-smiling individuals across cultures. Red lines separate cultures in which smiling individuals are rated as significantly more intelligent (on the right) or significantly less intelligent (on the left).

Cohen’s d for the difference in honesty ratings of smiling and non-smiling individuals across cultures. The red line separates cultures in which smiling individuals are rated as significantly more honest (on the right) (Krys et al., 2015). ³

Although I’ve never consciously judged a person’s intelligence based on their smile, I sure have judged their honesty.