Warm-up and fatigue effects in jokes rated by concrete and abstract persons

Male participants identified as concrete or abstract in conceptual system (Harvey, 1966) were exposed to 36 jokes previously categorized by content (sexual, aggressive, or neutral) and type (subtle or obvious).  Independent or conceptual system funniness ratings showed both warm-up and fatigue effects, especially for subtle jokes. Concrete persons used a narrower scale range than abstract ones. The former, it is suggested, react to situational demands rather than personal preferences. Sex jokes were, unexpectedly, rated higher than either aggressive or neutral jokes.