Who finds media violence funny? Testing the effects of media violence exposure and dark personality traits.

Abstract

The popularity and commercial success of electronic media that pair humor with violence suggests that many people enjoy laughing at screen media violence. But who is most likely to find media violence funny? To answer this question, we measured media violence exposure, dark personality traits, and the extent to which participants found media violence humorous in 2 cross-sectional survey studies with samples of undergraduate students (Study 1 N = 215; Study 2 N = 178). Across the 2 studies, we assessed moral disengagement, the dark triad, spitefulness, sadism, and proneness to schadenfreude as dark personality traits. Among other findings, men with high exposure to media violence, those who score high on sadism, and those who are prone to moral disengagement and schadenfreude were the most likely to find media violence funny. These were the most consistent associations; they were of small-to-moderate size. Thus, those who laugh the hardest at media violence may have the darkest personalities. Public Policy Relevance StatementTwo studies demonstrated that finding humor in media violence is positively related to the male gender, exposure to media violence, and the dark personality traits of sadism, moral disengagement, and schadenfreude. These findings suggest that TV shows, movies, and video games that pair humor with violence are enjoyed the most by men with dark personalities and a history of violent media use. The findings also support developmental models that suggest that frequent exposure to violent media can affect personality in socially maladaptive ways.

Situational and personal determinants of adolescents’ attitudes toward online celebrity bashing.

“…Given that attitudes toward celebrity bashing are measured based on a combination of components, this study adds that this impact is not limited to perceptions of fairness but also contains elements of seeing it as harmless and entertaining. This positive association is attributed to the fact that moral disengagement helps suppress moral feelings, which increases the joy and acceptability toward antisocial behavior (Allen et al, 2021).…”

“…Allison et al (2020), for instance, indicated that moral disengagement is associated with higher perceptions of fairness of aggression toward celebrities. Due to moral disengagement strategies, one is more flexible in interpreting antisocial behavior as acceptable and even as funny (Allen et al, 2021). Moreover, moral disengagement may increase under regular exposure to media violence, as one can practice with techniques of suppressing moral feelings (Allen et al, 2021;Teng et al, 2017).…”

“…Due to moral disengagement strategies, one is more flexible in interpreting antisocial behavior as acceptable and even as funny (Allen et al, 2021). Moreover, moral disengagement may increase under regular exposure to media violence, as one can practice with techniques of suppressing moral feelings (Allen et al, 2021;Teng et al, 2017). Therefore, the second aim of this study is to explore the association between moral disengagement and attitudes toward online celebrity bashing.…”

Just a Joke? Adolescents’ Preferences for Humor in Media Entertainment and Real-Life Aggression

“…A recent study suggests that this might be the case. Allen, Ash and Anderson ( 2021 ) found that dark triad personality traits like psychopathy (which includes antisocial behavior) were associated with enjoyment of a movie clip featuring aggressive humor. The authors suggest that related traits, such as an individual’s aggressive tendencies, might also be associated with liking humorous aggressive content (Allen, Ash & Anderson, 2021 ).…”

The Big Five and beyond: Which personality traits do predict movie and reading preferences?

“…This argument is also supported by Bowes and colleagues (2018), who further noted that the impact of the socially aversive personality traits on everyday interests is scarcely understood. In fact, it is only recently that attempts have been made to understand how people with “darker” personalities respond to media narratives (Allen et al, 2021; Appel et al, 2019) and whether they deliberately select media to match their personal dispositions (e.g., Blagov et al, 2019). Still others have argued that the study of the associations between personality and preferences within media has tended to be dominated by research in the area of music (Rentfrow et al, 2011).…”