Abstract
The purpose of this research was to use a psychophysiological reactivity model to investigate the influence of antagonistic humor on anger and cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) in hostile young men. Sixty male students with extreme scores on the Japanese version of the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire were assigned to either the hostile group or the non-hostile group. After the subjects completed an anger arousal task following a baseline state, half of them in each group were randomly given either antagonistic-humor stimuli or neutral stimuli. There were no significant differences in aroused anger or CVR between the groups exposed to antagonistic- humor stimuli, although heart rates decreased significantly in these subjects compared to those exposed to neutral stimuli. These results do not support the hypothesis that antagonistic humor decreases aroused anger and CVR in hostile young men, which might be attributed to a lack of laughter. Future studies should test the effects of antagonistic humor on anger and CVR in hostile young men while investigating the effect of their own laughter on these responses.
