Abstract We often see an upsurge of humor inspired by tragic circumstances: this happened also during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) outbreak. However, little is known about the emotional response to tragedy-triggered humor, let alone Covid-19 humor. With a large-scale survey completed during the early stages of Italy's lockdown, we studied the appreciation (funniness and aversiveness) of different formats of Covid-19 humor shared on social media. Results of an analysis of the role of demographic, personality, and psychological distance factors with linear mixed models showed that Covid-19 humor lacks a “signature” of funniness, but displays a mark of aversiveness. Among demographics, age and gender were key factors: with increasing age and in women, Covid-19 humor was judged as more aversive. Individuals using humor to cope with uneasy circumstances judged Covid-19 humor as funnier and less aversive. Furthermore, the perceived risk of infection amplified Covid-19 humor aversiveness, while kilometrical distance from the first Italian contagion hotspot raised the amusement in global terms. These findings expand our knowledge about dark humor and should raise awareness of the great variation in the emotional impact of Covid-19 humor and of the need to ponder where and with whom to share the laugh about the pandemic.

中文翻译：

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有趣但令人厌恶：对封锁期间意大利人口对 Covid-19 幽默的情绪反应的大规模调查

摘要 我们经常看到由悲惨情况激发的幽默高涨：这也发生在 2019 年冠状病毒病 (Covid-19) 爆发期间。然而，人们对悲剧引发的幽默的情绪反应知之甚少，更不用说 Covid-19 幽默了。通过在意大利封锁初期完成的大规模调查，我们研究了社交媒体上分享的不同形式的 Covid-19 幽默的欣赏（有趣和厌恶）。使用线性混合模型对人口统计学、个性和心理距离因素的作用进行分析的结果表明，Covid-19 幽默缺乏幽默的“特征”，但显示出厌恶的标志。在人口统计数据中，年龄和性别是关键因素：随着年龄和女性的增加，人们认为 Covid-19 幽默更令人厌恶。使用幽默来应对不安情况的个人认为 Covid-19 的幽默更有趣，更不令人厌恶。此外，感知到的感染风险放大了 Covid-19 的幽默厌恶感，而距意大利第一个传染热点的公里距离在全球范围内提高了娱乐性。这些发现扩展了我们对黑色幽默的了解，并应该提高人们对 Covid-19 幽默的情感影响的巨大变化的认识，以及思考在何处和谁分享关于大流行的笑声的必要性。