Social Psychology and Humor: Approaches from Denigrating Humor

Humor, as a means of social communication, enables information transmission in a given social interaction and, due to its specific characteristics, is able to modify how the message is interpreted. As can be extracted from these words, humor is a social process through which attitudes or emotions can be expressed and which influences other individuals in very diverse ways (processes of persuasion, discrimination, establishment of interpersonal relationships, etc.); therefore, humor has been considered as subject matter of social psychology. This chapter will be organized based on four key themes to understand the importance of the study of humor from social psychology. Firstly, the relevance of humor as a psychosocial event and its connection with social psychology will be shown. Secondly, the social functions of humor will be presented, highlighting the effects it has interpersonally and collectively. Thirdly, emphasis will be placed on a specific type of humor: denigrating humor, which has been specially analyzed in relation to sexist and racist events. Finally, the consequences of denigrating humor at the in-group and out-group levels will be presented. An assessment will be made of the most important aspects discussed throughout the chapter, as well as the research challenges that are currently posed by the study of this type of humor.