ABSTRACT
In order to evaluate the Freudian hypothesis it would be desirable to obtain a measure of preference for a certain type of humor, and to secure an independent measure of repression. Hostility was selected as the variable to be investigated because, as a socially disapproved trait, it is subject to repression and there is a considerable amount of humor devoted to it. An index of repression and insight was obtained by subtracting from the self-rating of hostility on the Q sort, the average rating by others. The data from the Q sort were evaluated by assigning weights of one to seven to the successive columns into which the 32 cartoons had been sorted. The degree to which the self-rating was lower than the average ratings by others was taken as an index of repression; the absolute discrepancy between the self-rating and rating by others was taken as an index of insight.
