ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the role of inhibitions in the appreciation of aggressive humor. According to Sigmund Freud, aggressive humor can be regarded as one form of “tendentious humor”—jokes which serve some sexual or aggressive purpose. In the Direct aggression cartoons an overtly aggressive act and aggressive motives were frankly portrayed. In the Mitigated aggression cartoons, the interpersonal destruction and aggressive intent were diluted, and perhaps implicitly condoned, by a totally unperturbed third party who responded to some other aspect of the interaction. Harry F. Gollob and Jacob Levine hypothesized that if the distracting elements in humor were minimized, inhibitions surrounding aggression would come into play and make it more difficult for subjects to appreciate aggressive humor. A self-report technique was used as a partial check on the effectiveness of the experimental mobilization of inhibitions. As predicted, mobilization of inhibitions interfered specifically with the appreciation of aggressive cartoons, with most interference occurring on cartoons highest in aggressive content.
