be safe not damage anything not damage anyone either physically mentally or emotionally be funny at least to most of the people who experience it GABYP Get Authorization Before You Prank ID: 927896
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Slide1
Psychology and Humor
Slide2Flashback: Pranking Ethic
be safe
not damage anything
not damage anyone, either physically, mentally or emotionally
be funny, at least to most of the people who experience it
GABYP – Get Authorization Before You Prank
Slide3What is humor?
From
The Oxford English Dictionary
With
reference to action, speech, writing, etc.: the quality of being amusing, the capacity to elicit laughter or amusement. Also: comical or amusing writing, performance,
etc.
And
The
ability of a person to appreciate or express what is funny or comical; a sense of what is amusing or ludicrous. See also
sense of
humour
n
Slide4Psychology and Humor
In terms of psychology, we can approach humor in terms of four components.
A social context
A cognitive-perceptual context
An emotional response
The vocal-behavioral response of laughter
Slide5Social Context
Humor is very much a social concept.
Although we can laugh when alone, we are much more likely to engage in humor when around others.
Humor serves as a way for people to playfully interact.
Definitions of play vary in the field of psychology, so we will use a simplified version.
Play is a
less serious version of utilitarian behavior.
Playful behaviors
can resemble more serious behaviors (e.g., play fighting vs. real fighting). With play, participants are more engaged with the behavior itself than the potential outcome (
Pelligrini
et al., 2006)
Research has shown a wide variety of benefits from play, many of which come back to play serving as low stakes practice of behaviors.
Slide6Cognitive-Perceptual C
ontext
In order to produce or understand humor, we have to process a variety of information.
Some of that information comes from the environment, but some of it comes from our own minds.
That means we have to take into account the mind and cognitive processes of any individual involved.
That includes concepts like knowledge, schemas, attention, etc.
We will discuss a few different explanations for what makes something humorous.
Slide7Emotional
R
esponse
Humor often creates positive emotional responses (Szabo, 2003).
Exposure to humorous information increases activation of the reward network in the limbic system, with higher levels of humor associated with stronger activation (
Mobbs
et al., 2003).
Slide8Vocal-Behavioral
R
esponse of Laughter
We respond physically to humor with a variety of behavior including laughter and smiles.
Those behaviors vary in intensity.
Chimpanzees and other apes show similar behavior is the context of play.
Many researchers (e.g., van
Hooff
, 1972) have suggested that laughter serves as a signal to others that current actions are playful, not serious.
Slide9Humor Theories and Hypotheses
Psychoanalytic
Superiority
Arousal
Incongruity
Reversal
Benign-Violation
Slide10Incongruity Theories
Humor is determined by whether or not incongruity is perceived.
For example, Eysenck (1942) suggested that laughter is the result of the integration of contradictory ideas such as those experienced from a pun.
Why do people become bakers? Because they knead the dough.
Slide11Another example from
Suls
(1972)
O’Riley
was on trial for armed robbery. The jury came out and announced, “Not guilty.” “Wonderful,” said
O’Riley
, “does that mean I can keep the money?” (
Suls
, 1972, p. 90)
Slide12Remember Schemas?
Schemas provide a skeleton structure, which is filled in with details from an experience
Schema knowledge also organized around
scripts
Knowledge about what occurs during routine activities
Slide13Incongruity and Schemas
A number of humor theories connecting incongruity and schemas have been proposed (e.g.,
Wyer
and Collins, 1992).
The general suggestions is as follows.
The setup of a joke leads to the activation of a schema.
The punchline does not match with the activated schema.
This leads to a search through memory for a different schema that will make more sense.
The second schema is often incongruous with the first schema.
Because both schemas remain activated and are incongruous, we perceive humor.
Slide14Why use humor?
Social probing
Humor can allow us to share or gather information with less risk (Kane et al. , 1977)
Examples:
Decommitment
Using humor to save face after failure or being caught in a lie or inappropriate behavior (Kane et al. , 1977)
Examples:
Slide15Why use humor?
Breaking Norms
Breaking social norms can be more acceptable if humor is used while breaking them (
Ziv
, 1984)
Examples:
Protecting Norms
Making fun of or teasing others can be used to coerce others to behave in a particular way (Long &
Graesser
, 1988)
Examples:
Slide16Why use humor in a prank?
Does humor make a message more memorable?
Does humor make a message more persuasive?
Slide17Humor and Memory
Humor can enhance memory, but it needs to be used effectively.
Schmidt (1994) found that memory was better for humorous sentences only when they were presented together in lists with nonhumorous sentences. Furthermore, memory for nonhumorous sentences decreased when presented in a list with humorous sentences.
Explanations:
Schmidt & Williams (2001) found that participants had better memory for the gist of humorous cartoons but not memory for specific details than for nonhumorous cartoons.
Explanations:
Slide18Humor and Persuasion
The effect of humor on persuasion is complex.
Humorous ads are more effective than nonhumorous ads if viewers already have a positive attitude. Humor is less effective if the viewers have a negative attitude toward the product (
Chattopadhyay
&
Basu
, 1990).
Humor increases the persuasiveness of low-intensity, soft-sell advertising, but decreased persuasiveness when used with a hard-sell approach (
Markiewicz
, 1974)
Slide19The Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion
(Petty & Cacioppo, 1986)
Will a person think
through (and
be
likely to elaborate
on) a persuasive message
?
Use peripheral route if:
Person focuses on
superficial cues
presented
person does
not
have ability (intelligence, time) or motivation to think
message is
not
personally relevant
person is in positive mood
(If the cues are appealing) the resulting attitudes are changed -- but are:
weak
not resistant to counterarguments
not predictive of behavior
Slide20The Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion
(Petty & Cacioppo, 1986)
Will a person think through (and be
likely to elaborate
on) a persuasive message?
Use central route if:
Person focuses on
arguments
presented
1) person has ability (intelligence, time) and motivation to think/need for cognition (personality characteristic)
2) message is personally relevant
3) person in neutral or negative mood
(If arguments are strong) the resulting attitudes are:
strong
resistant to counterarguments
predictive of behavior
Slide21Humor and Persuasion
Humor seems to follow the peripheral route.
Humor doesn’t seem to affect the credibility of the source but it can improve the audience’s liking of the source. (Weinberger &
Gulas
, 1992).
Humor doesn’t appear to improve the comprehension of a message (Weinberger &
Gulas
, 1992).
Humor can put the audience in a more positive mood (Moran, 1996).
Humor can grab the attention of the audience (madden & Weinberger, 1982).
In terms of the ELM, when will humor be most effective in persuading an individual?