Impact Of Humor Research Articles

The Impact of Humor in North American versus Middle East Cultures

North American (Canadian) and Middle East (Lebanese) participants rated their reactions to four different humorous comments (self-enhancing, affiliative, self-defeating, and aggressive), presented by others in brief scenarios. Consistent with predictions generated from a humor styles model originally formulated in a North American context, all participants responded most negatively to aggressive humorous comments by indicating the saddest mood, the highest ratings of rejection, and the least desire to continue interacting with the person making the comments. Only the North American participants showed a distinctive positive reaction to the self-enhancing humorous comments by displaying the happiest mood, the least rejection, and the greatest desire to continue with the interaction. In contrast, the Middle East Lebanese participants did not differentiate in their responses between self-enhancing, affiliative and self-defeating humorous comments. These findings were considered in light of cultural distinctions in collectivistic versus individualistic self-construals. Here, it was suggested that the collectivistic self-construals that characterize Lebanese Middle East participants may have blurred the self versus other distinctions in the humor styles model, thus leading to significantly less humor differentiation in a Lebanese Middle East context. The implications of these findings for further cross-cultural work on humor and its impact in social interactions was then considered.

The impact of humor based activities on young children ofdiffering levels of emotional intelligence in terms of self-concept humor appreciation and sense of humor

The impact of humor based activities on young children ofdiffering levels of emotional intelligence in terms of self-concept humor appreciation and sense of humor

The impact of humor based activities on young children ofdiffering levels of emotional intelligence in terms of self-concept, humor appreciation and sense of humor

The impact of humor based activities on young children ofdiffering levels of emotional intelligence in terms of self-concept, humor appreciation and sense of humor

P-42: The effect of medical clowning on in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer treatment

The aim of our study was to evaluate the impact of medical clowning following embryo transfer on pregnancy rates after IVF-ET. Medical clowning involves a new approach of using humor as an adjunctive therapy in medical situations. No reports are available concerning the impact of humor on infertility or the outcome of IVF. A prospective randomized study was performed in a university affiliated IVF unit. A medical clowning session of 10-15 minutes was especially composed, suitable for couples under fertility treatment. The medical clown team of our center invented this program. 186 patients who underwent IVF-ET at the IVF unit of Assaf-Harofeh Medical Center were included in the study. Following routine embryo-transfer procedure, every other Thursday for a period of 10 months, all patients were offered a personal encounter with a professional medical clown who performed a similar bedside routine session. Bits of this medical clown session will be shown by a short video. The outcome of the treatment cycles of patients who had an encounter with the medical clown (study group) was compared to the outcome of the patients, who had a routine embryo transfer on a successive Thursday, who did not encounter a medical clown (control group). 186 patients were included in the study and control groups. Patients mean age (34.0±5.0 vs 33.9±6.1, p=ns, study and control groups respectively), length of infertility (3.9±3.0 vs 4.1±3.1 years, p=ns, study and control groups respectively), number of previous IVF cycles (3.1±3.6 vs 3.0±3.2, p=ns, study and control groups respectively), indications for IVF between the two groups were comparable. Regarding the treatment cycle parameters, the number of oocytes retrieved were comparable (11.2±8.1 vs 11.2±7.2, for the study vs control groups, p=ns). Although the mean number of embryos transferred was less in the study group (2.3±0.8 vs 2.6±1.4, p<0.01), 33 patients out of the 93 in the study group conceived (35.5% per embryo transfer), whereas only 18 patients out of the 93 in the control group conceived (19.3% per embryo transfer). This difference was significant (p=0.002, Chi-square test), Odds ratio 2.29; 95% CI limits: 1.11-4.72. For the first time, in a prospective randomized study, medical clowning has been shown as an original, effective adjunctive intervention having a beneficial effect upon outcome of IVF-ET. The benefits of use of humor and medical clowning should be further investigated in conjunction with infertility and its treatment.

Update: Laughter: The Best Medicine?

Shortly before his death in 1995, Kenneth B. Schwartz, a cancer patient at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) founded The Kenneth B. Schwartz Center at MGH. The Schwartz Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting and advancing compassionate health care delivery, which provides hope to the patient and support to caregivers and encourages the healing process. The center sponsors the Schwartz Center Rounds, a monthly multidisciplinary forum where caregivers reflect on important psychosocial issues faced by patients, their families, and their caregivers, and gain insight and support from fellow staff members. The diagnosis of cancer is incredibly stressful, and treatments are arduous. Humor may help to ease the pain, show the human side of the health care team, and help everyone cope. Whether the patient uses humor to lighten the mood of a difficult consultation with their physician, or health care workers use it to help cheer each other through the day, humor and laughter can be valuable tools. Humor can soften the isolation experienced by both patients and staff. When used sensitively, respecting the gravity of the situation, humor can build the connection among the caregiver, patient, and family. However, insensitive joking is offensive and distressing, and experience suggests a variable acceptance of humor by patients with life-threatening illnesses, making humor a high-risk strategy, and it can be a pejorative maker of an adversive power differential. The medical literature contains little on humor, and very little research has been conducted on this common aspect of human communication. Through an examination of physician and nurse experiences, the role of humor in medicine is reviewed.

The Impact of Humor on Patients With Cancer

Using the Stetler model, in-depth literature reviews were performed that demonstrated a positive correlation between humor and comfort levels in patients with cancer. Humor frequently was used for relaxation and as a coping mechanism that aided in promoting general wellness. The literature indicated that various types of humorous material lessened anxiety and discomfort, which allowed for patients' concerns and fears to be discussed openly. The literature also showed that humor had a positive effect on the immune system. Improvements in pain thresholds and elevations in natural killer cell activity consistently appeared in quantitative experimental studies. In addition, measurements of specific neuroendocrine and stress hormone levels revealed biochemical changes that suggested improved physical stress responses and increased feelings of well-being after humorous interventions. This article has implications for nurses because humor can be an effective intervention that impacts the health and well-being of patients with cancer.

The USA's biggest marketing event keeps getting bigger: an in-depth look at Super Bowl advertising in the 1990s

Over the last decade, US Super Bol advertising has evolved into a unique phenomenon. US advertisers love the Super Bowl because it has reached an average television audience of over 120 million US viewers for the last 10 years. This manuscript examines the popularity of Super Bowl advertising during the 1990s. Every Super Bowl advertisement aired in the USA during the 10-year period 1990-1999 was video taped and viewed. In addition, USA Today's published Super Bowl advertisement likeability results were incorporated into the analysis. A total of 454 national advertisements were examined with regard to advertisement likeability. The impact of humour, advertisement length, animals, celebrities and product category type on advertisement likeability was assessed with the help of a comprehensive Super Bowl advertisement likeability model. It was hypothesized that each of these variables would be positively related to Super Bowl advertisement likeability. The results of a multiple regression analysis indicated that all these factors except the presence of celebrities had a strong significant impact on advertisement likeability scores.Based on these findings,this paper provides advertising strategy recommendations for future Super Bowl advertisers and marketing academics.

Assessing the Use and Impact of Humor on Advertising Effectiveness: A Contingency Approach

Every year billions of dollars are spent on advertising that uses humor to sell products. How is that spending decision made? Despite much research examining humor effects in advertising, many advertisers make the decision on faith. Many past studies lack a clear conceptual focus to guide the investigation of humor effects in advertising. The authors examine humor effectiveness by using a conceptual framework adapted from Speck along with a product-contingent focus. The resulting approach affords a clearer understanding of the appropriate use of humor through the examination of (1) the humor mechanisms employed, (2) the intentional relatedness of humor to the ad or product, and (3) the type of product advertised. The descriptive results of the study indicate that current practice for many advertisers is to employ incongruity-based humor in a humor-dominant context. That practice is contrasted with others to examine the influence of humor on the effectiveness of print advertisements for different product groups. Study results indicate that current advertising practices may not be the most effective in terms of advertisement performance.

Effectiveness of the Use of Humor in the Rehabilitation of People with SCI: A Pilot Study

Despite the empirically established beneficial effects of laughter on psychological health, humor remains a much neglected area of research. This study examined the psychological impact of humor on people with SCI, the hypothesis being that it would significantly reduce the deleterious psychological effects of the injury. Mood state, frequency of intrusive thoughts and avoidance behavior of eight male inpatients at the National Spinal Injuries Centre were monitored before and after exposure to a series of five humorous video presentations. Although differences in these parameters were in the predicted direction, statistical analysis revealed no significant effect. Nevertheless, this pilot study highlighted pertinent issues and suggested modifications for further exploration.

The Impact of Humor in Advertising: A Review

Abstract The use of humor has become common practice in advertising; yet our knowledge about its impact has not been updated since the last major review almost twenty years ago. In the interim, a great deal of humor research has been conducted. The outcome of this research only partially supports earlier conclusions and highlights the need to apply humor with care. Humor is by no means a guarantee of better ads, but its effect can be enhanced with careful consideration of the objectives one seeks to achieve as well as the audience, situation, and type of humor.

Impact of humor on survey responses

This study reports the results of an investigation of the use of humor to stimulate response rates in a mail survey of sales executives in 1000 firms. Results indicate that humor has little effect on response rate, response speed, or response bias and completeness.

Person-Focused Joking: Pattern and Function

Although humor, wit and joking have received the attention of such eminent scholars as Freud, Bergson and Radcliffe-Brown, they remain among some of those obvious, yet pervasive, phenomena that are relatively unattended to by social scientists. And the attention they have received has usually been on the form and content of humor itself, what humor does to individuals, the extent and impact of humor in mass communications media, and on the highly ritualized patterns of "joking relationships." Because this paper cannot hope to cover the broad topic of humor, it will emphasize joking; specifically, joking that focuses on a person in a stable human organization such as the business firm. In particular I shall inquire into the consequences of joking for work groups and other small social systems. By joking I mean anything that is done by one or more persons to arouse laughter in others. This general definition of joking permits us to ask: Joking by whom, towards whom, about what or whom? What is the latent intent of the joker? Is there a discernible serious consequence? And so on. The definition and the sorts of questions it prompts draw attention to the interpersonal aspects of the joking process. In what follows, I shall first refer to some of the relevant literature, then offer a conceptual scheme for systematically examining joking situations, and finally sketch some tentative patterns of joking, including a functional interpretation, based on some of my own research in industrial work places.