Liberal or Conservative: Which has a better sense of humor?

Post by **Elderberry** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 1:17 pm

Are you more likely to get a joke if you lean politically left or right? That's the question New York Times columnist John Tierney asks today, extending a line of inquiry popular this campaign season: the personality characteristics of ideologues.

Tierney cites a study by MIT behavioral scientist Dan Ariely, who ran 22 jokes by 285 Bostonians and discovered that, lo and behold, conservatives are better humored â€” at least about the funnies.

Those findings may come as a surprise in light of other research suggesting that conservatives are more close-minded, intolerant and allegedly scare more easily than liberals (but do keep neater quarters). Using a scale from 1 to 9, in which 1 indicated "not at all funny" and 9 was "hilarious," conservatives gave an average rating of 5 and liberals gave an average rating of 4.32 to three religious jokes Ariely told them, Tierney writes. Conservatives also liked the golf jokes better, as well as three "Deep Thoughts" by Jack Handey (who doesn't think that guy's a hoot?).

How reliable is this sort of study in measuring sense of humor, let alone as a personality characteristic of political ideology? The whole concept of funny, as one commenter points out on Tierney's blog, is subjective.

Ariely himself notes a neat twist on the stereotype that liberals have more fun with humor: "When we asked our respondents to self-report how funny they are, liberals indicated that they were funnier," he writes on his Predictably Irrational blog. "This means that liberals are not finding life to be funnier, but they think they are."

Guess that means the joke's on them.

JK

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 1:28 pm

geeze, thanks for supplying the potential for 25 pages of material and conversation.........

interesting study, that......I find a lot of my leftist friends only think somethings funny that puts down anyone they disagree with........but, not all........
certainly, left and right look at the world differently........

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 3:42 pm

The terms are too meaningless, but republicans obviously have the most outrageous sense of humour.
I'm still getting emails from people trying to make me feel bad for electing obama.
Got to have a sense of humour to write stuff like that!

How many republicans does it take to screw in a light bulb?

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 4:59 pm

I wonder if all the actors, etc, that moved out of the U.S. after W got re-elected (they said they were moving, I guess they did), will be moving back now?
that should help the housing market.........

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 5:28 pm

ygmir wrote:I find a lot of my leftist friends only think somethings funny that puts down anyone they disagree with.

Which is why they all laugh so uprouriously at Rush Limbaugh?

Sorry, doesn't fly.

I've seen the difference at being Right laughs more at "at you" humor; Left does better at self-depricating "with you" humor.

lonestoner916 · Post by **lonestoner916** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 5:46 pm

gyre wrote:The terms are too meaningless, but republicans obviously have the most outrageous sense of humour.
I'm still getting emails from people trying to make me feel bad for electing obama.
Got to have a sense of humour to write stuff like that!

How many republicans does it take to screw in a light bulb?

One to hold the lightbulb and several dozen to form a committee to discuss the best way to screw in the light bulb. Plus a couple more to pat them on the back when they finally get it after eleventy tries.

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 5:49 pm

wrong page, Fishy......
also,see the above joke............

betrdanevr · Post by **betrdanevr** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 5:49 pm

I think first of all, they have to form a corporation and figure out what they'll "get" for it.

Then they will have to outsource the study to India . . .

Don't know if the "trickle down" theory will employ many folks. Not much profit here, perhaps.

I think it'll be left to a Democrat, for the "good of the people."

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 6:07 pm

Only one.
But they don't actually screw in the lightbulb.
They just hold it up and let the world revolve around them.

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 8:56 pm

hey, that's a French joke........

TomServo · Post by **TomServo** » Sat Nov 08, 2008 12:28 pm

French joke? like the Magineux (sp?) line?

as to original question..conservatives... who else could give us people like Quayle, Bush jr. and Palin?

Toolmaker · Post by **Toolmaker** » Sun Nov 09, 2008 9:37 am

I would say that Conservatives have a better sense of humor. Seems to me that Liberals get so caught up in being Liberal they wind up becoming Fascists that want to get rid of all the funny jokes in favor of being politically correct.

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Sun Nov 09, 2008 9:45 am

I agree

Post by **AntiM** » Sun Nov 09, 2008 10:07 am

Post by **Elderberry** » Sun Nov 09, 2008 10:46 am

ygmir wrote:I agree

Me too!

JK

Simon of the Playa · Post by **Simon of the Playa** » Sun Nov 09, 2008 10:59 am

the problem is that this study was done in Boston, the home of the bean and the cod.

where the cabots speak only to lowells and the lowells speak only to god.

(translation.... they have a giant stick up their ass, and often dont get humor because of the wincing pain in their collective sphincter.....Now NEW YORK on the other hand, they're funny....and i mean funny "ha-ha" not funny "strange" or different, as in "cops smell funny".....just ask any New Yorker who the worst people in the world are, and they will tell you after Californicators comes Massholes.)

EvilDustBooger · Post by **EvilDustBooger** » Sun Nov 09, 2008 1:55 pm

A side note:
When it comes to having a sense of humour about each other; liberals and conservatives both have developed uncomfortable, permanent knots of contention in their sticky magic underpants.

Dork · Post by **Dork** » Sun Nov 09, 2008 3:16 pm

I see two things happening here (by here, I mean in this thread and in the US as a whole)

People who have chosen a side tend to feel the other side is lacking humor because they don't laugh at the things they laugh at.

The most visible form of "liberal" humor is the Daily Show and the like, which is self depricating and, well, funny! The most visible form of "conservative" humor is the mean-spirited stuff on the radio and Fox News. Some of this carries over into regular life, and much of it is simply perceived at being attributed to regular people.

Conservative politicians and pundits have been very active with the fake outrage stuff the last several years. It's similar to the overly-PC stuff liberals used in the past and still do to a lesser extent today. This has caused the perception of conservatives lacking humor.

The "test" could easily have swayed either way depending on which comics or type of humor were used.

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Sun Nov 09, 2008 3:34 pm

Sean Hannity is already saying that Obama's new dog has been associating with terriers.

Post by **Elderberry** » Sun Nov 09, 2008 6:03 pm

gyre wrote:Sean Hannity is already saying that Obama's new dog has been associating with terriers.

LOL Funny

JK

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Sun Nov 09, 2008 7:27 pm

Dork, nicely put.

And I love that terrier joke.

EvilDustBooger · Post by **EvilDustBooger** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 7:17 am

A patriotic group of females supporting Barack Obama have shaved their vaginas in support of the newly elected president of the USA.

They say that it contains a message to all fellow Americans.

"Read our lips, no more bush."