That's disgusting! …, but very amusing: Mixed feelings of amusement and disgust

Authors: Hemenover, Scott H.¹; Schimmack, Ulrich²

Source: Cognition and Emotion, Volume 21, Number 5, August 2007 , pp. 1102-1113(12)

Publisher: Psychology Press, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

This study examines mixed feelings of amusement and disgust. Participants (N=102) reported their affect before and after watching a film clip depicting disgusting humour. While watching the clip participants were instructed to take the perspective of either an uninvolved observer or of the clip's protagonist. As expected this clip produced mixed feelings of amusement and disgust, and perspective moderated changes in affect and mixed feelings. Disgust increased equally in both conditions and amusement increased only in the observer condition. As a result mixed feelings of amusement and disgust were more intense in the observer condition. As the first study to demonstrate moderation of mixed feelings, this work adds to the extant literature on mixed feelings and has implications for emotion research.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02699930601057037

Affiliations: 1: Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL, USA 2: University of Toronto, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

Publication date: 2007-08-01

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