Empirical research is contradictory concerning the impact humor has on individuals low and high in need for cognition (NFC). An empirical study with 510 Belgian citizens using humorous and non-humorous advertising stimuli shows that humor has a positive impact on the attitudes of both high and low NFC-individuals, but that attitude formation takes place in a different way. For individuals low in NFC a direct effect of humor on attitudes is found, while for individuals high in NFC an indirect influence via biased cognitions can be observed. (Author/publisher)
Abstract