Sex conflict and impressions of manager's aggressive humor

In an experiment, business students (N = 192 Ms & 192 Fs) evaluated aggressive humor used by a hypothetical manager in an organizational case. In general, Ms judged the humor funnier & more appropriate in the context than did Fs. Some evidence supporting the intergroup-conflict theory of humor was obtained because funniness ratings were higher when victim sex & manager sex were opposite. Ms rated the humor more appropriate when subordinate (audience) & victim sexes were opposite, while Fs did not. Ms thus seemed to believe others held views consistent with sex-conflict theory. Ms rated humor with a M aggressor more appropriate, suggesting Ms have a more traditional, sex-stereotyped view of aggressive humor than do Fs. Ms & Fs agreed in rating the M manager & F subordinate as the manager sex-subordinate sex combination for which the humor was least appropriate. These findings may reflect the Ss' tendencies to use humor when they assume managerial positions. 1 Table, 18 References. HA