Race-Based Humor and Peer Group Dynamics in Adolescence: Bystander Intervention and Social Exclusion.
Adolescents' evaluations of discriminatory race-based humor and their expectations about peer responses to discrimination were investigated in 8th- (Mage  = 13.80) and 10th-grade (Mage  = 16.11) primarily European-American participants (N = 256). Older adolescents judged race-based humor as more acceptable than did younger adolescents and were less likely to expect peer intervention. Participants who rejected discrimination were more likely to reference welfare/rights and prejudice and to anticipate that peers would intervene. Showing awareness of group processes, adolescents who rejected race-based humor believed that peers who intervened would be more likely to be excluded. They also disapproved of exclusion more than did participants who supported race-based humor. Results expose the complexity of situations involving subtle discrimination. Implications for bullying interventions are discussed.
University of South Carolina. mulveykl@mailbox.sc.edu.
Kelly Lynn
KL
Mulvey
University of London, UCL Institute of Education.
Sally B
SB
Palmer
University of Kent.
Dominic
D
Abrams
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D012929:Psychological Distance; D063505:Racism / Q000523:psychology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D012938:Social Perception; D014925:Wit and Humor as Topic / Q000523:psychology*
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