Beyond Laughter: How Culture Shapes the Meaning and Preference of Humor

Abstract

Across five studies, we reveal consistent cultural differences in how humor is perceived, created and appreciated: compared to Americans, Chinese individuals were more likely to produce, appreciate, and associate humor with more profound meaning. Study 1 (N = 298) used a free association paradigm and found a stronger tendency among Chinese than American participants to associate humor with meaningfulness. Study 2 (N = 222) showed that humor generated by Chinese participants contained more depth and meaning than that of American participants. Study 3 (N = 200) compared short humorous videos from Chinese (Douyin) and American (TikTok) social media platforms and found that videos on Douyin contained more meaning than those on TikTok. Finally, Study 4 (N = 611) used a cultural sampling method to examine how participants’ cultural background and origin of humor influence people’s liking of meaningful humor. The results indicated that Chinese participants liked meaningful humor more than nonmeaningful humor to a greater extent than American participants. Study 5 (N = 500) extended these findings to a more naturalistic context. The research highlights a new dimension of humor (meaningfulness) that has never been studied before and contributes significantly to the literature on culture and humor.