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Beyond Laughter: How Culture Shapes the Meaning and Preference of Humor

Yi Cao et al.

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin2026https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672251405520article
AJG 4ABDC A*
Weight
0.50

Abstract

Across five studies, we reveal consistent cultural differences in how humor is perceived, created and appreciated: compared to Americans, Chinese individuals were more likely to produce, appreciate, and associate humor with more profound meaning. Study 1 (N = 298) used a free association paradigm and found a stronger tendency among Chinese than American participants to associate humor with meaningfulness. Study 2 (N = 222) showed that humor generated by Chinese participants contained more depth and meaning than that of American participants. Study 3 (N = 200) compared short humorous videos from Chinese (Douyin) and American (TikTok) social media platforms and found that videos on Douyin contained more meaning than those on TikTok. Finally, Study 4 (N = 611) used a cultural sampling method to examine how participants' cultural background and origin of humor influence people's liking of meaningful humor. The results indicated that Chinese participants liked meaningful humor more than nonmeaningful humor to a greater extent than American participants. Study 5 (N = 500) extended these findings to a more naturalistic context. The research highlights a new dimension of humor (meaningfulness) that has never been studied before and contributes significantly to the literature on culture and humor.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672251405520

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@article{yi2026,
  title        = {{Beyond Laughter: How Culture Shapes the Meaning and Preference of Humor}},
  author       = {Yi Cao et al.},
  journal      = {Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672251405520},
}

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Beyond Laughter: How Culture Shapes the Meaning and Preference of Humor

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.