ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the influence of aggressive drive and need for social approval upon humor preferences under an alcohol and nonalcohol condition. Aggressive subjects with a high need for social approval (NSA) in the nonalcohol condition rated aggressive cartoons much less favorably than did a similar group in the alcohol condition. Although High nonalcohol (NA) subjects rated aggressive cartoons significantly lower in the nonalcohol than in the alcohol condition. Ratings of nonsense cartoons were almost identical for all groups except High NA subjects in the nonalcohol condition. High ratings of nonsense cartoons may result from the notion that a “sense of humor” is a desirable trait, or from the implication that the selected cartoons must be funny and are therefore likely to evoke the approbation of the experimenter. The results suggest that an adequate interpretation of the relationship between humor preferences and aggressive needs must consider the role of other personality and situational variables.
