Social comparison theory and the role of informational and normative social influences on humor responses : an honors thesis (HONRS 499)

The effects on mirth responses (i.e. laughter, smiling) to and subjective ratings of humorous cartoons for female subjects in the presence of a silent or laughing confederate were investigated in terms of Social Comparison Theory (Festinger, 1954) versus an Information-processing explanation (Leventhal & Cupchik, 1976). Thirty-nine female undergraduate students were given falsefeedback about their ability to judge cartoon quality and presented with either a laughing or silent confederate. The false-feedback was used to determine the effect of a companion's responsiveness relative to the individual's own level of confidence in ability to judge cartoon quality. Mirth responses and subjective ratings significantly increased in the presence of a laughing versus silent confederate, while only subjective ratings differed significantly as a function of level of confidence. Low-confidence subjects utilized the information provided by the confederate's laughter more as a source of information than did high-confidence subjects as subjective ratings were highest for low-confidence subjects. The confidence effect for subjective ratings and a lack of significant differences in mirth responses across confidence conditions was cited as support for a social comparison explanation. Implications for previous findings and future research were discussed.