Teasing: For Superiority or Solidarity?

Humor among friends is typically regarded as a means of strengthening friendships. However, there may be a side of humor that is used to compete rather than bond (R. D. Alexander, 1986; C. R. Gruner, 1997). In the present studies, the participants were asked to imagine that they were sitting with a group of mixed-sex peers. One of the group (a same-sex friend) made a comment about the participant. Different groups of participants were told that the remark did or did not involve teasing. While the participants imagined they were the target of the remark, they rated their emotional reactions as well as their perceived relationship with the teaser and the character traits attributed to the teaser. The outcomes from analyses of variance of perceived competitiveness, emotional responses, and expected social outcomes largely supported superiority perspectives of humor.