1. Political Personalities,
Ironic Isn’t It?
Nicole vandeVliet
Advisor: Dr. Young
Department: Communication

3. Huh?
Humor is being increasingly
found in our political system.
Politicians frequent talk shows
and comedy shows
Satirical news shows are
extremely popular

4. Research
Applications
Help us to better understand
comedy and our own preferences
Illuminates the debate about
liberal bias in political satire.
Can be used by politicians and
comedians to appeal to their
target audiences

5. What We Know
Content affects humor preferences

6. What Could Be
Structure of humor affects preferences
Exaggeration Irony

7. Psychological Differences between
LIberals and Conservatives
There are obvious belief
differences between liberals and
conservatives.
What if these differences extend to
psychological traits?

8. My personal space is usually
When faced with a problem I usually
messy and disorganized.
see the one best solution very quickly
I enjoy the uncertainty of going into a new
I feel uncomfortable when someone's
situation without knowing what might
meaning or intention is unclear to me.
happen.
I hate to change my plans at the last
Even after I've made up my mind about
minute.
something, I am always eager to
consider a different opinion.

9. Need for Cognitive Closure
The motivation to quickly formulate and maintain a clear opinion on an issue,
rather than acceptive confusion and ambiguity (Kruglanski & Webster, 1996)
Aaron Johnson Paul Pulszartti

10. I really enjoy a task that
involves coming up with new
solutions to problems.
I prefer my life to be
filled with puzzles
that I must solve.
I would prefer complex
to simple problems.
I find satisfaction in
deliberating hard and
for long hours.

11. Need for Cognition
An individual's tendency to engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive endeavors

12. Linking Personality Traits and Ideology
Research has shown these personality traits to be linked to
political ideology and
(Jost & Amodio, 2010; Sargent, 2004; Wiersema, van der Schalk, & van Kleef, 2011)
aesthetic preferences (Wilson et al. 1973, Ruch 2007)
If P is linked to I, and P is linked to A, then is I linked to
A?

13. Survey Participants
1079 participants who were previously recruited to be part
of a survey panel
Delaware Residents
18+

14. Survey Design
Personality Traits Measured
- Post-Modern World View
- Need to Evaluate
- Need for Closure
- Need for Cognition
- Tolerance for Ambiguity

15. Survey Design
Video Stimuli
-Participants randomly assigned to one of three conditions
-Each condition contains three humorous video in random
order
-videos vary in humor structure (irony v. exaggerated)
Video Responses
-Stimulus evaluation questions
-open ended: what was the main point?

16. Survey Design
Demographics
-political interest
-political party/ideology
-age, ethnicity, education, income

17. What’s Next?
Collect Data
Compare psychological traits to humor preferences and
ideology
Look for patterns

18. Expected Outcomes
Preference for irony will be linked with those who express
low need for closure, high need for cognition, and express
more liberal beliefs
Preference for exaggerated humor will be linked
with those high in need for closure, low in need for
cognition, and express more conservative beliefs

19. Low Need for Cognition High Need for Cognition

20. Summary
An emerging theory states that humor structure determines
preference.
These preferences may be predicted by personality traits and
political ideology.
In my research, these connections between humor preference,
personality traits, and political ideology are explored through
surveys.
If strong connections are found, results can be used by politicians
and comedians to appeal to existing audiences, and even draw in
new support.

21. Thank You
Dr. Dannagal Young for her hands-on approach to
undergraduate research and constant support
Undergraduate Research Program, especially Meg
Meiman and Lynette Overby, for developing a great program and
accepting me into it.
Center for Political Communications, for their funding,
belief in the project, and for providing a fantastic panel
My Research Group, for their suggestions and constructive
criticism that helped to shape this presentation