Understanding of comical texts in people with
different types of attitudes towards humour:
Understanding of comical texts in people with
different types of attitudes towards humour:
Evidence from Internet memes
Author(s): Daniil Rivin, Olga ShcherbakovaSubject(s): Anthropology, Social Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Media studies, Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Communication studies, Pragmatics, Psycholinguistics, Sociolinguistics, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Theory of Communication
Published by: Krakowskie Towarzystwo Popularyzowania Wiedzy o Komunikacji Językowej Tertium
Keywords: Internet memes; humour understanding; gelotophobia; gelotophilia; katagelasticism;
Summary/Abstract: This study aimed to test a hypothesis about the correlation between levels of gelotophobia, gelotophilia, and katagelasticism and understanding of Internet memes as a specific form of humour. Participants were 45 native speakers of Russian (aged 18 –30; 73,3 % female). The levels of Internet memes understanding were assessed independently by two judges with the use of criteria based on the results of a series of semi-structured in-depth interviews. Gelotophobia, gelotophilia, and katagelasticism were assessed with PhoPhiKat <30> questionnaire. J. Raven’s “Standard Progressive Matrices” test was used to control the level of psychometric intelligence. Concordance of judges’ scores for the understanding of memes was assessed with Kendall’s W and ranged from 0.71 to 0.84. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used to test the main hypothesis. We found no correlation between the scores for gelotophobia, gelotophilia, and katagelasticism and understanding of Internet memes. Presumably, the type of attitude towards humour does not play a significant role in the understanding of comical texts. The qualitative content analysis of the interview protocols revealed some specific features of cognitive mechanisms of Internet memes understanding. Namely, successful participants with higher levels of understanding of Internet memes reflected more on their thinking process than those with lower levels of understanding of Internet memes, easily switched from an abstract level of reasoning to a concrete one, and tended to consistently develop detailed mental representations of the memes.
Journal: The European Journal of Humour Research
- Issue Year: 9/2021
- Issue No: 2
- Page Range: 112-131
- Page Count: 20
- Language: English