Perception of humorists: a cross-cultural study of undergraduates in hong kong, hangzhou, and vancouver1

Abstract

Abstract Humor perception differs across cultures, and this paper examined the cultural differences of humor perception and nomination of humorists in 457 university students from Hong Kong, Hangzhou, and Vancouver. The “big humor/little humor” phenomenon explicates cross-cultural meanings and implications of humor expressions and functions. “Big humor” is a conception that humor is created by professionals, whereas the “little humor” view is that people possess humor as a personality trait. Participants were asked to nominate up to three humorists they know and to specify their reasons for nomination. They also self-evaluated on a scale of 1 to 10, the importance of humor and their own humor. Results showed that students from Vancouver nominated ordinary people more, valued humor more, and considered themselves more humorous than students in Hong Kong and Hangzhou.