To cringe or not to cringe: the role of individual variability in the perception of Covid-19 humor

Humans share a laugh in response to comic uses of language and tend to find the fun side of events also when facing misfortunes. This is the case of cringe humor, in which others suffer while eliciting some awkwardness in the perceiver. At the emotional level, cringe humor pairs with reduced appreciation and increased discomfort, an ensemble of mixed emotions close to disgust. Accordingly, cringe humor matches other comic genres causing a cascade of emotions, like Covid-19 humor. Characterized by a bittersweet taste, the pandemic-inspired humor is akin to cringe humor in emotional/appraisal terms. Despite the large use of Covid-19 and cringe humor, little is known about the mixture of emotions they trigger and, to what extent, Covid-19 humor is as hard-to-watch as cringe humor. Overall, this chapter sought to push the experimental turn into cringe humor research, putting together insights from the linguistics and psychology of humor. To do so, we (re-)analyzed data collected from two large-scale studies in Italy and the US during 2020, the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. By applying the k-means bottom-up clustering technique, here we analyzed to what extent judgments of funniness and aversiveness encapsulate cringe instances related to the pandemic. Moreover, we sketched on the role of individual and cultural variability in cringe humor appraisal. The semi-automatic classification showed that a cringe space of appreciation exists, and comic elements belonging to the cringe constellation share specific features. These features are described according to pragmatic categories introduced in the General Theory of Verbal Humor. In addition, our findings delineated a complex pattern of relationship between age and the cringe experience, largely faced by young adults, yet also found for more mature and older adults. In sum, all cringe, but what makes people cringe depends on how they position themselves in the cringe space.