Susie Johnson

Research on humour and prejudice has predominantly focused on the use of negative, or disparaging humour and its prejudice enhancing effects. This study investigated whether a positive ‘affiliative’ humour, could elicit a reduction in prejudice as measured by attitudes, system justification beliefs and engagement in collective action in favour of transgender individuals. Participants (N=85) were randomly assigned to the humour or control condition before and after which data were collected measuring their levels of prejudice and beliefs. In the humour condition participants were exposed to stand-up comedy performed by transgender comedians. Results showed that brief exposure to humour had no significant effect on prejudice and system justification beliefs. However, participants who reported finding the humour funny and those who reported less discomfort were significantly more willing to engage in collective action to support the transgender community compared to those in the control condition.

Humor is considered a coping strategy that is associated with well-being and positive self-esteem. The role of humor in relation to body image and eating behaviors has rarely been investigated. This cross-sectional study (  = 216) examined the relationship between general coping humor and humor styles targeting the self, namely self-enhancing and self-defeating humor, and body image and eating behaviors. Results showed that adaptive self-enhancing humor was associated with body appreciation and compassion, whilst maladaptive self-defeating humor was related to body criticism, drive for thinness, and emotional eating. General coping humor played almost no role. We also examined humor clusters and found that body appreciation and body kindness were higher in self-enhancers than self-defeaters and higher in humor endorsers than humor deniers. Further, self-defeaters reported more body criticism and emotional eating than self-enhancers, and emotional eating was higher in humor deniers than humor endorsers. This study shows that humor referring to the self is key in the understanding of body image and eating behaviors. Whilst the use of self-enhancing humor can have positive effects on body image, self-defeating humor can play a detrimental role.

Research has shown that Instagram imagery can affect women's body image. However, it remains unclear how Instagram images are perceived, and which type of images can have a positive impact on body image. In this study (N = 170), we examined whether exposure to body positive and humorous parody (vs. body ideal) imagery would be perceived as critiques of thin body ideals, would elicit photo-based activity in the form of "likes", and would positively affect women's body image. Results showed that both body positivity and humorous parody images elicited more "likes" and were perceived as critiquing thin body standards more than body ideal images. Moreover, women's body satisfaction and positive mood were higher after exposure to body positivity and humorous parody compared to exposure to body ideal images. Women exposed to humorous parody also reported a lower drive for thinness. These findings demonstrate that both body positivity and humorous parody can be considered critiques that improve body image.

Listeners rely on vocal features when guessing others' sexual orientation. Whether speakers modulate their voices to emphasize or to conceal their sexual orientation remains unclear. Across two studies, participants judged sexual orientation of straight and gay YouTubers after listening to their voices. Recordings referred to different points in time that, in the case of the gay YouTubers, corresponded to before and after their coming out. The gay YouTubers were perceived as sounding more gay after coming out, whereas the straight YouTubers tended to sound increasingly heterosexual over time. Coming out seems to be a key moment for gay individuals' self-expression.

This research examined how listeners categorize and stereotype speakers belonging to intersecting social categories (nationality; sexual orientation) based on voice alone. In Study 1, British heterosexuals categorized the nationality and sexual orientation of British and Italian speakers who self-identified as gay or heterosexual. Participants correctly categorized British speakers as co-nationals and Italian speakers as foreigners. Categorization accuracy of gay speakers’ sexual orientation was poor. Italian gay speakers were perceived as most likely to be gay and non-native speakers. Study 2 examined stereotyping of speakers who sounded either native or foreign, and sounded either gay or heterosexual. Foreign-accented (vs. native-accented) speakers were rated as less competent, and gay-sounding (vs. heterosexual-sounding) speakers as less gender typical. Foreign-accented gay speakers were perceived as the least competent and gender typical. •Categorization of speakers as nationals/foreigners was accurate•Categorization of speakers’ sexual orientation was poor•Foreign-accented (vs. native-accented) speakers were rated as less competent•Gay-sounding (vs. heterosexual-sounding) speakers were rated as less gender typical•Foreign-accented gay speakers were perceived as least competent and gender typical