This assignment is similar to last weeks assignment. Please be sure to synthesize.
Find a topic that relates to the material we have covered so far. Research the topic using at least three internet sites of content (not fluffy sites). These can include a video if used as an example.
After viewing the web sites, please take a moment to synthesize what you read/saw and then integrate it (along with the material from the text) into a quality post of what you read. When you write assume your reader has limited knowledge on the topic. Give the reader detail and background material so they can follow along, read and learn from what you are writing (i.e., explain things). It is OK to have fun and to be creative with this blog post.
Finally, go back to one of your earlier posts and briefly discuss how your writing about the psychology of humor has evolved.
Please make sure you use the terms, terminology and concepts you have learned so far in the class. It should be apparent from reading your post that you are a college student well underway in a course in psychology.
Please use spaces between your paragraphs to make your post easier to read - thanks in advance
Let me know if you have any questions.
Humor is a cognitive process that can be disrupted by a brain injury. This concept is interesting because it allows us to learn more about which areas of the brain play a role in humor. Also, we are able to see how humor changes after a brain injury occurs and which types of humor can be no longer be processed. I chose to do further research about the relationship between humor and brain damages.
As we read in our text, the right hemisphere plays a role in our humor processes. People who have right hemisphere damage are more likely to display changes in their personality which includes engaging in socially inappropriate behavior. Studies have found that our right frontal lobes in our brain play a dominant role in our ability to appreciate and participate in humor. Damage to the frontal lobes will effect a persons ability to tell jokes and respond to humor. Other studies have found that people with frontal lobe damage struggled the most to appreciate written and verbal humor. However, people who have damage to the left hemisphere do not usually show personality changes or lack of humor skills. Instead, left hemisphere damage impairs language functions. This research tells us that people who suffer right frontal lobe or right hemisphere damage are more likely have future problems with humor processes.
How do our humor processes change after brain injuries? People who suffer brain injuries in the frontal lobe area are more likely to express inappropriate behavior. For example, many people who have had a brain injury tend to make humorous but often crude or offensive comments. They might also experience laughter at inappropriate times. However, prior to a brain injury, a person is able to interpret when to laugh in a timely manner as well as having good judgment before making comments. Also, brain injuries cause difficulties when interpreting feedback from our environment. Many people with frontal lobe damage are unable to understand jokes that are told by other people. It becomes more difficult to interpret and piece together humorous information.
The youtube clip I watched demonstrated several individuals who have mental disabilities or brain damages. One man, had a severe brain injury when he fell several stories from a building at the age of three. His story was incredibly touching when he said his parents no longer wanted him after his injury. His sense of humor is strong but it's obvious that he is unable to respond and interpret humor in a normal way. Though he is able to create funny jokes and creates a laughing audience, his brain injury has clearly limited his humor comprehension.
Overall, it seems that our right frontal lobes and right hemisphere seem to play a crucial role in our humor comprehension. It will be interesting to see if research can find a ways to re-train brains to use and comprehend humor correctly after an injury. Although humor certainly can't fix all brain injuries, it is said to be the best, free medicine so losing the ability of humor processing drastic.
URLS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLksbEe_Y48
http://www.neuroskills.com/tbi/pr-humor.shtml
http://introspectional.com/section2/page1.php
For the past few days, I have been trying to think of a topic of the psychology of humor and this divergence activity. I couldn’t think of anything that I really wanted to blog about until my friend came to me asking for advice on relationships. She said that she will be kidding around with her boyfriend, then all of a sudden he will get mad because he doesn’t get it, or doesn’t know she is kidding around. After I told her maybe they didn’t have the same sense of humor I then realized that relationships and humor would be a good topic to blog about. After realizing what I was going to blog about, I searched youtube for some videos about relationships. The main ones that popped up were videos done by people who have probably never had a relationship before, and have way too much time on their hands. So I decided to search some comedians which led me to this video by Dane Cook (excuse the language). The video is titled “Bad Relationships”, and after watching a few minutes of it my boyfriend started laughing along with it, even though I didn’t even know he was listening. The parts where Cook talks about pointless arguments elicited laughter in both of us, since sometimes we have silly arguments like that. According to the text, people who have the same sense of humor get along more. Since a sense of humor in other people is seen as a positive characteristic, this would only make sense. We were both able to laugh at the parts where they may be not as funny to some other people.
So if you get along with someone who has the same sense of humor as you, what do you do when you fight? Jerry Seinfeld is coproducing a new (well, newer) show on NBC called the “Marriage Ref”. The show is a half reality, half stand show where a real couple is shown fighting, and a panel of judges and a comedian being the referee determine the winner of a fight. This show would somewhat exemplify that humor can be used as a mediator in a fight, or eventually end it. On Oprah.com, an interview is held between Seinfeld and Lucy Kaylin, who works for Oprah’s magazine. The interview discusses some advice that Seinfeld has been given on marriage, and how he uses his humor to make it work. Even though Cook used comedy to make fun of relationships, Seinfeld uses his humor to show how it helps relationships.
Psychology today states that humor can be used as a tool in relationships. Humor can be either be used as a good tool, or a bad tool, depending on the situation that occurs. So, in a fight humor may be used to mediate it, but over time it doesn’t solve all the problems. Even though humor may be the thing that brought the couple together it may not be what keeps them together. I found the article to be interesting because it claimed that every supportive way of humor has an “evil twin” that is aggressive, selfish, or manipulative. This idea would agree with the reoccurring belief in the textbook which claims that humor has an underlying aggression theme.
Overall, it is clear to see that humor can be used to overcome some obstacles in relationships, but it can’t solve every problem. Although humor is seen as a positive trait, it is clear to see that you can’t use that positive trait every time you want to break up a fight because it also has a negative side. Also, it is important to remember that jokes can help break the ice, whether you are meeting someone for the first time or you are trying to make your long time partner laugh.
URL's: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdv2exhGxU4
http://www.oprah.com/relationships/Jerry-Seinfeld-Talks-Marriage-to-O-Magazine
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200606/crack-me
When reading the section on humor in the work place, I immediately thought of how the use of humor in this setting could cause problems, specifically, how it can lead to lawsuits.
Humor can function as a great service to enhancing the quality of one’s workplace by helping resolve tension and stress, provide building blocks for getting to know coworkers and establishing relationships with them, as well as “saves face” when disagreeing with opposing views. It also helps increase overall job satisfaction and morale within the environment.
Along with these benefits, there can also be consequences to using humor in the workplace. We all know that there are some types of humor that do not belong in the workplace (racist, sexist, etc. jokes/humor), but even though we acknowledge this, it doesn’t mean we always abide by these laws.
Because we all have different senses of humor, expressing this can become troublesome in the workplace. What we think is funny may not be funny to a coworker and may even be offensive. Technically, anything that creates a hostile work environment is considered illegal. To me, this law can get kind of fuzzy because some people may bicker about tiny little things which may result in people totally abstaining from using humor altogether.
I’m the type of person who likes to use humor in the workplace because it really does make my job more enjoyable and keeps me going back every day. However, I do really monitor and am cautious of what I say because I do not want to create any tension and/or get sued! I found a website that gives some good guidelines to using humor in the workplace…some of these guidelines are as follows:
1. Think of the message: if your joke features a message that you wouldn’t otherwise say to the person without being camouflaged by humor, you shouldn’t say it.
2. Know your audience: knowing the people you work with is a good tool to knowing what is and is not appropriate to joke about
3. Leave serious topics alone: serious topics can include race, sexual orientation, disabilities, etc
4. Be careful about politics: obviously, political jokes may offend those with opposing views and because politics seems to always cause controversy, you should be very cautious and filter jokes about this topic
5. When in doubt, leave it out: this guideline is probably my favorite because if people thought about what they said before they said it, a lot of problems would probably be avoided.
To me, bringing humor to the workplace is tricky. It is undoubtedly beneficial if used properly, but if used carelessly, it can become detrimental. Because of this, I think perhaps a workshop on the appropriateness of humor in the workplace would be beneficial for employers to implement if they do not do so already. It would be a shame to lose the positive work environment and productivity by eliminating humor (I think it would also be difficult) but it would also be a shame if humor was causing a work environment that is uncomfortable for individuals to work in. It is important to find a happy medium between the two however that may be done!
http://www.humormatters.com/articles/workplac.htm
http://womeninbusiness.about.com/od/smallbusinesslegalissues/a/legalriskshumor.htm
http://womeninbusiness.about.com/od/smallbusinesslegalissues/a/legalriskshumor.htm
I chose to further my knowledge on humor and persuasion. Our book talks about how advertisers use humor to persuade their viewers to buy their products. For example I found a video that sums up several commercials that used humor to persuade their audience to buy their product whether is by Geico, or Doritos. I also added another humorous commerical about condoms, because the kid is throwing a fit so it is funny to watch but is also persuading its viewers to avoid the stork. In addition, the role of humor in persuasion depends on the kind of processing involved (peripheral or central) and characteristics of the audience, the topic, and the source of the message.
There are a lot of factors that contribute to whether humor can persuade someone or not. The appropriateness of humor for a particular setting or mood is usually not too difficult to discern. You just have to be observant. What may be funny to one person one day will not be funny the next, even if it's the exact same joke told in the exact same way.
When considering the size of your audience, the general rule of thumb is "the bigger, the better." That is, the bigger your audience, the more laughter you will typically get. Why is this? It's because laughter is contagious. The more people involved, the more we laugh. For example, when a movie theater is packed, the laughter tends to be greater and last longer than when there are only four people in the audience. This is one of the reasons why TV producers use canned laughter in their programming. Often the scenario being acted out really isn't even that funny, but studies show that the use of laugh tracks actually gets us to laugh more. Whether the material even registered as being funny or not, we are more inclined to laugh along if we hear others laughing.
Everyone persuades for a living. There's no way around it. Whether you're a sales professional, an entrepreneur, or even a stay at home parent, if you are unable to convince others to your way of thinking, you will be constantly left behind. According to our text humor seems to be more effective in influencing emotional variables, such as liking and positive mood, than cognitive ones, such as comprehension of the message.
"Once you've got people laughing, they're listening and you can tell them almost anything."
http://www.articlesbase.com/self-improvement-articles/the-factors-that-influence-humor-in-persuasion-2435519.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaWICIrNxzQ
http://ezinearticles.com/?Increasing-Persuasion-with-Humor&id=259310
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nojWJ6-XmeQ&feature=related
The book states that self-deprecating humor can have a positive role in our life. It can help us not take ourselves so seriously in face of stress, disappoint or unfairness. It can also help us come to terms with stupid decisions or the person that we might of once been, and lastly help us to connect to others showing that we are humble and relatable. However chapter nine points out a negative side of humor targeted at oneself. In self-defeating humor comedians like Chris Farley were good at making fun of themselves to make others laugh. It can be used as a defense mechanism to deal with negative feelings of self-loathing or problems with self-esteem. Farley engaged in a lot more self-defeating behaviors like using drugs and overeating. One of my friends walks with a limp from a birth defect, his guy friends bluntly tease him about his limp a lot. However, in response, he does not seem to mind the jokes.He even encourages them sometimes. I always wonder does he really want to hear these jokes about his disability and his limitations, is he really ok with such jokes. The article “What’s Your Humor Style” states that having a sense of humor means that one is happy and socially confident, with a healthy perspective on life, it can help you cope with stress and build better relationships however routinely being the butt of jokes of the amusement of others can lead to “eat away at self-esteem”.
This could be way comedians like Jim Carey, Owen Wilson and Chris Farley can be very depressed people. I read “The Substitue People”, the articule states from a young age, Chris knew that his weight would be a point of teasing, so he beat them to the punch. This makes sense in what we have been taking about in class and our swarm theory. Chris used his teasing to fit in and bond with the in-group, even though by social standards he was a part of the out-group. He became quite good at it. However even though his goal was to avoid teasing and fit in with the in-group, seems to be just it did on the surface. He feel very alone and depressed on the inside, and used drugs and alcohol to deal with these feelings. On the other hand both articles discuss the positive and healthy aspects of self-deprecating humor. To be able to laugh at the “absurdity as human beings” or laugh at life. The article “What’s you Humor style” mentions “The Onion”. I think that we all love the website because pokes fun at real incongruity and ironies within our daily lives. The article “The Onion gets it right” expands. To every joke there is a kernel of truth, like that facial symmetry and pleasant looks is really important to elections or people’s opinion of someone.
Unfair and challenging things will happen to everyone in life, and it is especially hard to hide the physical disabilities or differences from the norm. Humor will help you deal with these problems, laughing about problem with others can be a way of bonding because everyone can relate to challenges. However humor should not be used to put down your problems or disabilities to help you fit in an in-group. Thus in terms of my friend, laughing at his disabilities it is healthy to laugh at some unfairness of his disabilities and move on with life. However making fun of himself to fit in is not healthy and should be limited.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200606/whats-your-humor-style
http://chicagopsychology.org/substitutepeople/the-substitute-people/
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/psyched/200802/the-onion-gets-it-right-volume-1
I thought that the chapter I just read last week, Humor and Physical Health, was really interesting. Although a lot of the empirical evidence from the studies from the book wasn’t extremely consistent or conclusive, there are a couple of websites I found emphasizing the healing power of humor.
The first website is a really fun one at HelpGuide.org. It starts out by talking about how laughter is infectious and is just good for your emotional well-being. It mentions physical benefits such as laughter relaxes the body, boosts the immune system, triggers endorphins, and helps protect your heart. Another website that I found on HelpGuide.org website was one from the Cancer Treatment Centers of America about laughter therapy; and it also mentioned the same physical benefits. Both of these websites that I looked at mentioned that laughter is an amazing part of our lives because it is innate, we’re born with it and it can be used as a natural medicine.
The Cancer Treatment website talks about Norman Cousins and his self-treatment. The book says that Cousins’ article and book are often cited for evidence on the benefits of laughter; however, more research is needed in that area with controlled experiments. This website also explains the laughter therapy sessions held that patients can go to. The therapy is not humor based though; it’s based on laughter as a physical exercise. One example of an exercise that they do is as everyone stands in a circle, the leader stands in the middle. Patients put their fingertips on their cheekbones, chest, or stomach and make “ha ha ha” sounds until they feel vibrations in their bodies. One of the doctors said that the laughter becomes contagious and soon everyone joins in and laughs. Patients that attend the laughter group say they feel better after the therapy. I thought that this sounded similar to something that was in the book: the “laughter club movement” that started in India (pg 311). This was started by Madan Kataria in 1995. People meet regularly to engage in laughter “as a form of yogic exercise.” Kataria believed that even if laughter is not humorous or isn’t elicited by humorous stimuli, it can still be beneficial to physical, mental, spiritual, and interpersonal health.
The first thing I thought of when I started reading this chapter was the movie Patch Adams with Robin Williams. The book even mentioned it! Patch Adams is a true story about a med student/physician who took an unconventional approach to the world of medicine. He has kind of humor-driven prescriptions that could increase patients’ endorphin levels and increase their will to recover and get better. It’s kind of similar to the HelpGuide.org website where it just encourages you to have a more lighthearted outlook on life and not too take yourself or life too seriously, otherwise you’ll stress yourself out. This is where I think our Z-theory (equilibrium) comes in. You have to have a sort of balance in your life, and humor can help with that balance, whether it’s on a personal level or on a social level. The website, I thought, made a really good point in saying, yes, there are some sad points in our lives where it’s not appropriate to laugh. But most everyday life events are heavily weighted toward sadness or happiness, they fall into a grey area that gives you the choice to make it whatever you want to make it. So you can laugh at life or not.
http://www.helpguide.org/life/humor_laughter_health.htm
http://www.cancercenter.com/complementary-alternative-medicine/laughter-therapy.cfm
http://vimeo.com/9337910
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKQdKRC2DVs
While thinking about this assignment, I remembered reading the chapter that included information on people being tickled. I am very ticklish and there are times where I get mad at how easily ticklish I am. This made me continue thinking about why people are ticklish and why some people aren’t.
Many people believe that humor and tickling go hand in hand. Another belief also includes being tickled increases someone’s sense of humor. Surprisingly both of these common assumptions are false. This then poses the questions of why we laugh when we are tickled, why we are ticklish where we are, and why some people aren’t as ticklish as others. Evolutionary biologists and neuroscientists believe that we laugh because we are showing our submission to an aggressor. They say that the areas of our body that are most likely the ticklish spots are the areas of our body that are most vulnerable to injury. Overtime humans evolve to live in social groups and pass on knowledge to the following generations. Tickling is one method of teaching others to defend themselves from attacks. Therefore laughing while being tickled tells the other person that the ‘attack’ isn’t serious.
Laughter is defined as spasmodic, rhythmic, vocalized, expiratory and involuntary when in relation to being tickled. Tickling requires sensation of touch and of pain. Because pain receptors are needed when being tickled this suggests that cerebral and cognitive forms of humor have the same basic representation in the human nervous system. Tickling response would appear to not be an innate physiological reflex but involves something else that is maybe cognitive. This would help explain why some people aren’t ticklish at all while others can be ticklish without even being touched. It also explains why people can’t usually tickle themselves. This would also support the theory that tickling comes from the perceived theory that at one point they were under attack. Therefore the term “tickle attack” may actually have some truth behind it.
Researchers in one study gathered 72 students at the university and tested the hypothesis that tickling and humor share a deep connection. One group of students were tickled for 10 seconds and then shown video tapes from Saturday Night Live. The second group watched the comedy video first and then was tickled for 10 seconds. The control group watched an unfunny nature video and then was tickled. They believed that the students would laugh more when the tickling followed the humor and/or when humor followed the tickling because each group will have been ‘warmed’ up so to speak. Their results found that tickling does not create a pleasurable feeling just the outward appearance of one.
It may always continue to be a question as to why humor and tickling appear to go hand in hand, but the idea that it is an evolutionary aspect of defending ourselves is interesting to me. I have always been ticklish and know that I will always remain that way. I will continue to be puzzled by the people that don’t appear to be ticklish. Either way I will always find this aspect of humor intriguing.
http://health.howstuffworks.com/mental-health/human-nature/happiness/laugh-tickling2.htm
http://www.tomveatch.com/else/humor/paper/node33.html
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DF153DF930A35755C0A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1
After watching the British video clips, I wondered what makes British humor so different from American humor. I found out that British humor is not just used and understood in the United Kingdom, but also places like New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and South Africa. It is hard to determine sometimes exactly what makes British humor different from our own, just that it is, but through some searching of the web, I have found some explanations. Some examples of British comedy that we might be familiar with are Monty Python, Mr. Bean, The Full Monty, the British version of the Office and my personal favorite, Shawn of the Dead.
British humor has certain themes. A lot of them actually. Just through watching the video clips from class, themes like innuendos, the absurd (the dead parrot skit), having a character as the ‘maniac’ (Hugh Laurie), disrespect to members of authority (like Hugh Laurie to the doctor), humor inherent in everyday life, macabre also known as black humor, where typically serious events are treated in a humorous way (Hugh Laurie going to a psychiatrist) and bullying and harsh sarcasm (Hugh Laurie to the psychiatrist). Other themes include the “war between parents or teachers and children, humor based on the class system, the “lovable rouge”, where a person who is down on their luck is trying to work their way up in the system, the embarrassment of social ineptitude, making fun of foreigners, parodies of stereotypes, and tolerating and liking the eccentric.
Maybe the most dominant trait in British humor is the use of irony. Americans also use irony, but as Simon Pegg (the guy from Shawn of the Dead and Hot Fuzz who also writes articles for the Guardian) says, irony to the British is like a kettle, always on and whistling, where Americans use irony like a nice teapot and only use it on certain occasions. This could probably be generalized to any kettle because I don’t really know any Americans who make tea every day.. that seems like a very British thing to do. Macabre, a really dark humor used by British people to cope with serious, sad situations. An example he gave was this exchange;
-I had to go to my grandfather’s funeral last week
-Oh, I’m sorry to hear that
- Don’t be. It was the first time he ever paid for the drinks
Typically Americans would be put off by this, because they are dealing with a serious, sad issue. Americans are more cautious to no be offensive in this situation. Another site I was reading said that the author’s (who was British) grandmother had recently died of lung cancer because of her heavy smoking, and at the funeral he made the joke that they were going to set up a smoker’s corner and everyone laughed. In America, funerals are a very solemn time and I don’t think that similar jokes would go over.
It is also mentioned that Americans do use irony, but tend to make it clear that they are using irony by adding “just kidding” to the end of their statement, even when it’s obvious that it’s a joke. We discussed this in class as a way to save face, to kind of test the waters of humor but at the same time stay within everyone’s expectations of what is and is not appropriate to say. An example that was given was “If you don’t come out tonight, I’m going to have to shoot you.. just kidding”. It’s pretty clear that the person probably will not shoot you if you don’t go out (Although the author, who is British says that it’s possible because all Americans have guns) and that “just kidding” is not necessary.
Even within the articles that I read (which were pretty much all written by British individuals) I could sense their humor. The above statement about all Americans having guns is consistent with theme of making fun of Americans and also parodying the stereotype that all Americans own and use guns, unlike the British. I think sometimes as Americans we might not catch humor in British comedy because we are not familiar with the language. For example, Shawn of the Dead was popular both in the U.K and America, but some of the slang had to be changed, like the word “pissed” in the British version to “drunk” in the American version. Some things are just lost to Americans though, because of cultural or historical differences.
There is also an element of understatement in British comedies. In American films we have laugh tracks and make it known when things are supposed to be funny, and people act very dramatically. A lot of the time in British humor, the people act pretty calmly. For example, the famous scene in Monty Python when the king has to fight the other knight who is blocking the road. The king cuts off the knight’s arm which would usually end the battle, but there is not really a reaction to this by the knight, he just continues fighting because it is “only a flesh wound”.
I think my blogs have definitely improved as the semester has gone on because I have more direction when I write them. Based on whatever topic I am looking into, I can figure out ways to find more information on it or other routes to take. I also have increased my understanding of humor overall and can draw my own conclusions on why things are funny and use the right terminology to communicate this.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2007/feb/10/comedy.television
http://www.anglotopia.net/british-identity/humor/guest-post-a-quick-guide-to-british-humor-understanding-british-comedy/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_humour
http://www.learnenglish.de/culture/britishhumour.htm#whathumour
In chapter 11, humor in therapy is discussed. Using humor in therapy or counseling is thought to have benefits and problems. One major agreement about humor in therapy is that it must be used correctly to be beneficial to the client.
Humor in therapy must be planned and relevant. This may include the use of certain comic strips, activities, or hypothetical situations. When using humor in therapy, the therapist should always ask themselves how that humor will benefit the client and how it could be detrimental before the humor is used. If it is used to often, the client may find it boring or repetitive. Immediately after the applied humor, the therapist must read the client’s reaction to humor as positive or negative and take the necessary proceeding steps in a sincere and honest way. If humor is used too soon then the client may view the therapist as insensitive so timing is also key. Humor in therapy should never make the client feel disrespected or belittled which may happen if the therapist is not careful. Along with that, humor in therapy or counseling must be used for the client’s benefit and not the therapist’s.
Humor in counseling can help capture attention of the client, enhance retention of the session, and help release built up energy creating a lighter environment. Humor may also create a sense of control in the environment. It can provide an alternative perspective to the situation at hand.
With that being said, humor does not always benefit the client. There are risks involved in using humor in a therapy setting. There are risks of alienating the client, the client viewing the therapist as not taking the client seriously, and being seen as less competent or capable as a therapist. The client therefore must be able to relate to the humor as well as the therapist’s correct usage of humor. To assess this, the therapist can ask the client what type of humor he or she likes, observation of laughing at one’s self which is a sign of being more open to humor, and use a test joke (humorous bit) to observe the client’s reaction.
Although there are certain benefits of using humor in therapy, research on the topic is limited and inconsistent. In one study, nonhumorous interventions were actually rated by clients as more effective and more highly preferred than humorous interventions. Another study found that nonfacilitative (distracting) humor may have an adverse effect on the client in therapy while facilitative (supportive/empathetic) humor did not show a greater positive effect on clients than no humor in therapy. A study done by Barbara Killinger in 1987 found that humorous statements by therapists did no produce greater benefits for the client in therapy than nonhumorous statements. Not only that, but, the humorous statements that resulted in the client laughing were seen to produce less client understanding than the nonhumorous statements. With all the negative or neutral findings on humor in therapy there were also some positive. One study found that humor used in therapy created a better liking of the therapist by the client and therapists who use humor tend to have no malpractice claims.
I think my writing has improved from earlier posts in that now I can use terms and ideas we have learned throughout the whole class to describe or explain humor or something relating to it. It is much easier for me to talk about humor. I don’t feel like I struggle to find the right word to use to explain something. More than that, I can explain the concepts and vocabulary I use without looking it up. I actually know the material we have covered on humor as opposed to having stored it in my short term memory just to keep for this class or one test. This makes it much easier to write my posts because I don’t always have to go back and review everything.
http://www.humormatters.com/articles/therapy1.htm
http://positivepsychologynews.com/news/laura-lc-johnson/200906252693
http://www.slideshare.net/Kannenberg/rand-kannenberg-using-humor-in-offender-counseling-and-supervision-presentation
Chapter 10 discussed humor and how it relates to physical health. One topic I found interesting was the effects of humor and laughter on immunity. Our text states that the research to date concerning humor and laughter on immunity is not consistent or conclusive. I found this interesting because the positive impact that humor is perceived to have on one’s immunity is mentioned as one of the leading contributions of humor on health. However, our text states that the research findings that support this idea include studies that tend to be quite small with many methodological limitations, and some of the findings have been inconsistent across studies. In contrast to what our text states, I found three websites that discuss studies which have been found to show how humor has increasingly positive benefits for one’s immune system.
The first website discusses research findings by Dr. Lee Berk and fellow researcher Dr. Stanley Tan and their study concerning the effects of laughter on the immune system. In Berk’s study, the physiological response produced by belly laughter was opposite of what has been found in relation to classical stress. These findings support the conclusion that mirthful laughter is a eustress state, a state that produces healthy or positive emotions. Research results indicate that, after exposure to humor, there is a general increase in activity within the immune system, which includes: lowering blood pressure, reducing stress hormones, increasing muscle flexion, and boosting immune function by raising levels of infection-fighting T-cells, disease-fighting proteins called Gamma-interferon and B-cells, which produce disease-destroying antibodies. Laughter was also found to trigger the release of endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers, and produces a general sense of well-being. In contrast to the last finding, our text states, research suggests that observed pain-reducing effects are likely due to amusement-related positive emotion instead of relating only to the positive effects of laughter. The popular idea that these effects are mediated by the production of endorphins or other opiates in the brain has not yet been investigated, although this appears to be a plausible explanation, it is not factual. It is stated in Paul McGhee’s (Ph. D.) study on the immune system that as in the case with pain, researchers still do not know whether this boosting of the immune system occurs because of the physical act of laughter or the mental/emotional experience of humor itself. Additionally McGhee states, while you may find some “experts” on humor and health attributing the immunoenhancement effect of humor, and others attributing it to laughter, you can rest assured they are guessing. The research does not tell us one way or the other.
This second website discusses Paul McGhee’s (Ph. D.) research on humor and laughter and how it strengthens one’s immune system. McGhee states that the early 1980’s is when researchers began to study the impact of humor and laughter on the immune system. The best evidence that humor boosts the immune system comes from studies where immune system measures are taken before and after a particular humorous event, usually a comical video. By 2010, over 40 studies were able to demonstrate this immune-bolstering effect. Research in this area has shown that numerous and different components of the immune system are strengthened by humor and laughter, including: Natural Killer (NK) cells, immunoglobulin A (IgA), IgG and IgM, T-cells and B-cells. Therefore, it is suggested by these research studies that the simple act of watching a favorite comedy show is enough to get increased numbers of these protective cells circulating in someone’s body. Contrastingly, our text states that although research in the general field of psychoneuroimmunology indicates that emotional states can influence immunity through the many communication channels linking the brain and the immune system, these complex interactions are still not well understood, and there does not appear to be a simple one-to-one relation between specific emotions and particular changes in immunity. In other words, although these reported studies claim to show consistent findings throughout their results, these findings still do not explain the mechanisms involved in the complex relationship between a person’s emotions and their immunity. Just because these studies indicate the same results, this does not prove that humor is the emotion responsible for increasing the number of protective cells in one’s immune system.
In the last website, Paul McGhee (Ph. D.) wrote a piece titled, “Humor and Laughter.” Similar to his last report, McGhee argues that the body’s healing system responds favorably to positive attitudes, thoughts, moods, and emotions, and negatively to negative ones. McGhee cited a study where humor’s ability to protect one against immunosuppression during stress was evident when people with a well-developed sense of humor were compared to people with a poor sense of humor. Those with a poor sense of humor who showed greater numbers of everyday hassles and negative life events were associated with greater suppression of their immune system (IgA). However, those with a well-developed sense of humor did not show a weakening in their immune system in response to everyday hassles and problems. In contrast, our text states that although the research offers some interesting suggestions of possible effects of humor on immunity, there is little evidence that people who have a better sense of humor and laugh more frequently have better immunity, enjoy better health overall, or live longer lives. Interestingly, our text claims that there is even some research that suggests more humorous and cheerful people may actually die at an earlier age than those who are more serious.
In conclusion, although these studies claim to have research that exemplifies the positive effects of humor strengthening one’s immune system, it is not entirely factual. It is in my opinion that these research studies are poorly cited and do not show much empirical support. Even though these research studies offer interesting suggestions about the effects of humor and laughter on one’s immunity, more rigorous and systematic research is needed before firm conclusions may be drawn.
http://www.holisticonline.com/Humor_Therapy/humor_therapy_benefits.htm
http://ezinearticles.com/?Humor-and-Laughter-Strengthen-Your-Immune-System---The-Latest-Research&id=4421276
http://www.holisticonline.com/Humo
r_Therapy/humor_mcghee_article.htm
For this assigment, I decided to investigate a topic covered in chapter nine, specifically humor and stress. We already know from the readings that the effects of humor are beneficial in regards to health management, so I wanted to read about evidence supporting this view and also some helpful ways to reduce stress in everyday life.
The first article I read was helpful because it discussed some of the physiological underlying components of stress and why laughter is indeed such a beneficial activity. Stress hormones such as cortisol, epinephrine, and adrenaline are necessary for body function, but too much of these hormones is not healthy. Laughter is a way that reduces the built up effects of these hormones and also produces an additional amount of anti-body producing cells (T-cells) which are crucial for a healthy immune system. In short, the findings seem to support that including laugher in daily situations (especially trying to find humor in stressful ones) is a way to combat stress hormones and also boost the immune system at the same time. The article also listed some helpful tips of how to include laugher in daily situations to reduce stress. Watching a segement of a funny movie or even just a you-tube clip can be enough to lift a dreary mood and can be a stress-buster, talking time to enjoy laughter with friends (in a professional work manner! This would be the social aspect of humor between groups of individuals), looking at a stressul situation up close and trying to see the lighter side of things (I related this back to the telic/paratelic mode of switching from a serious situation to a more playful one in terms of seeing the funnier side of the situation) the article even mentions "fake it until you can make it" stating if you must force a smile or a laugh, this still has a positive effect and can release stress.
The second article from the Washington Post included a study done at the School of Medicine in Baltimore in which subjects were placed in two groups and were instructed to watch a movie with funny scenes, and a a movie with stressful events. Before watching, vasodialation of blood vessels (the amount of contraction in the vessels) was recorded, and also after watching the movies. The researchers found significant differences in dialation (similar to the effects of 15 to 30 of exercise) in the vessels of the patients that watched the funny scenes. The article strongly suggested this does not mean a person should cancel their gym membership because laughter produces the same benefits of a workout! The research simply suggested a positive health link between laughing while watching something humorous as opposed to a stressful/serious event. Laughter is also linked to the release of endorphins which are healthy chemicals the body produces which increase positive mood. Basically, the article re-inforces that although laughter can't cure a serious illness, it can prevent some negative health effects and can be "good medicine" for the body.
The last article I read was on humor and health and I was specifically drawn to the discussion on pain reduction. The article discusses how patients in the hospital suffering from pain can alleviate some situations with laughter, and this distracts their minds temporarily from the unfavorable signals of pain. Endorphins that result in the event of laughter are a "natural pain killer" are also a source of deflecting pain. Reduction of muscle tension is another benefit for a patient expeirencing pain, and laughter is one way to do this. Along with laughter, mediation and relaxation techinques have similar benefits in pain reduction. The research also indicates laughter is a good indication of "cardiac exercise" and the elevated amount of breathing and actual act of laughing itself is like a workout for the heart.
I think by reading these articles I was able to gain a better understanding more in depth on just how laughter can have positive effects on the body. Before this and reading the text, I had a much broader viewpoint. Reading about some actual research done with regards to physiological changes in different settings (humorous as opposed to stressful/serious) gave me a better outlook on the situation. I have even seen the positive effects of some of the fore-mentioned ways to reduce stress (such as the "fake it to make it" ... I have found personally this has helped me) and that sometimes over-stressing a situation does take a toll on the body. The actual act of laughter iself seems to be an even bigger stress-booster than I would have assumed before.
http://stress.about.com/od/stresshealth/a/laughter.htm
http://www.thehumorcollection.org/Laughter_Washington_Post.html
http://www.holisticonline.com/humor_therapy/humor_mcghee_article.htm
I also thought this clip was funny ... a stressful scenario at work!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lhQrzhD6EY&feature=related
I decided to do a little snooping around to find out just what the business world is saying about the benefits of humor and then critique or ellaborate on the information based on the readings and class discussions.
I found that humor is being used for a number of different purposes in the business world. I've decided to focus on three of the ways that humor is used in the corporate world: 1- humor is used as a teaching aid for employees (i.e. using humor to teach non-humorous information), 2- humor can be taught to employees as a tool, and 3- humor takes place naturally so businesses can discuss the natural use of humor and whether or not it should be encouraged.
Our text explains that humor can be used as a tool to help people remember certain information, however these benefits are limited and often come at the expense of being unable to remember non-humorous information presented at the same time. Many websites and our text continuously suggest that humor must be used 'judiciously' and given these findings it is clear that this is an incredibly important suggestion. This also supports my--and the textbooks'--belief that humor is more of a specialized communication skill that can be used well or poorly. An important thing to remember however is that there are numerous ways to communicate a message to an audience, and therefore numerous options available to companies when they try to decide which format they will choose to teach important information to employee's.
Although the benefits of humor as a teaching aid are probably exagerated it is certainly no worse than many other forms, and since it is an enjoyable way to learn--even if it is only equally or even less useful--and thus may be a good idea for companies due to the other benefits it confers (e.g. increasing company moral, making peopel FEEL like they learned more even if they didnt, etc.). This section refers to my links to various motivational speakers who use comedy to teach marketing and sales techniques.
A slightly more risky use of humor in the workplace is teaching it as a tool to either increase sales, or make you a better speaker, or provide some other benefit. I was able to find numerous websites that offer to teach companies how to use humor for some further purpose that benefits the company the sales person or their clients. Some websites do this in a very dangerous way (meaning there is little reason to beleive that the humor will have the benefit they claim) and others seem to do this in a way that has some potential.
The reason this is a risky idea is because humor is an incredibly complex phenomena that appears to be incredibly easy to understand.
The formula appears to be:
Tell a joke, people laugh. Make people laugh and they like you. If they like you they'll do what you want them to do.
Naturally the problem is that this is oversimplified, but it is on the right track. I'm going to combine my last two points during this discussion. Humor is such a common experience and is so widely practiced by everyone that like it or not, humor is being used in every business interaction. It's being used in every business interaction because with very few exceptions it is used in EVERY interaction. Since humor is a communication style that will be practiced regardless of the recommendations of the company it may be a smart idea for companies to invest money in teaching people who to effectively use humor. However, the true benefits of humor are not always clear and consistent so this is not as easy as many companies offering these services make it sound.
The company I found called "Creativity Engineering" was the best of those that I looked at. They offer to train employees using 'improvisational humor' to help people learn about and discover their own sense of humor, and capitalize on the benefits. They focus on helping individuals develop their own person skills to the fullest potential and seem to have a strong grasp that humor is a tool, a means to an end only, and don't view it as a 'cure-all,' or as though it's far superior than all other forms of communication.
Sources that use humor to teach other skills:
http://www.brianlongwell.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjaI8Zevb7I&feature=related
Sources that offer to teach you how to use humor for some further gain:
http://www.creativity-engineering.com/funny.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnO8_OVVfOg
Over the course of this course I've become really interested by different types of humor that people possess. Mostly, we're all funny in our own ways, it's been oft said in class that some joke that's been told, or idea of what we think of as funny, would be funny amongst our friends, or people who think like us. Thus, it leads me to wonder what kinds of humor people possess, and how they find it funny and others do not.
That questions can be answered pretty simply. Other may or may not find your form of humor funny, depending on their style of humor, or things like their exposure to it, or relatability.
While reading in the book, under the section "Personality Approaches to the Sense of Humor", there wasn't much of anything noteworthy. The sentences were a tumultuous mass of abbreviated tests and tests results that didn't really speak anything to the "types of humor" and their corresponding personalities.
ie: "Ruch conducted a factor analysis of seven sense of humor scales from four different self-report measure, including the SHRQ, CHS, SHQ, and Ziv's measure of umor apprecaition and creativity." Pretty dry, right?
However, I did manage to find some cool website online about the types of humor we see in our culture. An interesting sight from Psychology Today described Put-down humor, Bonding humor, Hate-me Humor, and Laugh at Life Humor. Now these are all pretty self explanatory, but the part I really liked was the pictures that corresponded with the ideas. For example: They had a picture of Charlie Chaplin for the Hate Me humor, and a picture of Ellen Degeneress (sp?) for the Laugh at Life humor. I thought these were really representative in wrapping up the ideas they were trying to convey.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200606/whats-your-humor-style
There was also another sight I found that went on to describe different types of humor as
Affiliative - Use of humor to entertain others and build relationships
Self Enhancing - Maintain a humourous outlook and use humor as a coping mechanism
Aggressive - Put down humor, sarcasm
Self-defeating - Ingratiating, defensive
As we can see, these are very different from the Psychology Today article, however, it's another good aspect to view humor. It's always positive to obtain different views on humor because, humor, is still a idea that's being freshly studied. So different viewpoints are always welcome.
I'm just posting this last video, becuase it's something my style of humor really enjoys. Personally, I like using humor as a tool to connect to people. (Affiliative) It's an agreeable icebreaker in a situation that might be otherwise awkward. When meeting somebody new, I might say something offbeat or strange to evoke a laugh out of some person, hopefully lowering the wall of defenses to attempt a friendly conversation. Thus, this video is something I would show somebody, so they can get a laugh, and a glimpse of my personality to see if their interested in forwarding a friendship.
Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD5HfM3DZt8
In chapter nine we were introduced to many ways humor can have an effect on different aspects of health such as immunity, pain, blood pressure, heart disease, illness symptoms, and longevity. I decided to research more on the physiological benefits of laughter. I was interested in just how similar laughter is to exercise.
In chapter one the etymology of humor is discussed. We learned that the word humor began as a Latin word (humorem) meaning fluid or liquid. In medieval times it was believed that the body contained four primary humors, each associated with a mood. If there was an excess of any of the four humors it was believed to result in poor health where an accurate amount indicated “good humor,” or good health. So from the beginning of the word humor it has been related to health.
Different cultures have used humor to promote health such as European court jesters. Jesters were hired to tell jokes, provide entertainment, and also to criticize their master and guests. The use of criticism by jesters exhibits the psychoanalytic and superiority theories suggestion that humor is based on aggression and aggressive humor is often found to be more enjoyable. The superiority theory also suggests that laughter is a socially acceptable way to relieve aggression, and laughing at someone else’s expense raises your self esteem.
According to a study from Loma Linda University’s Schools of Allied Health repetitive laughter could have the same effects on the body as exercise does. The study used a similar method as the ones discussed in our book. In the SAHP study volunteers were shown a series of both humorous and upsetting videos. Immediately before and after watching the videos blood pressure and blood samples were taken. Results showed that the humorous video inducing laughing enhanced positive mood, lowered stress hormones, increased immune activity, and lowered blood pressure and cholesterol levels similar to moderate exercise. This is a fairly new study that was designed to study the effect of laughter on appetite. This study also demonstrated that repetitive laughter effects two hormones, leptin and ghrelin, that regulate appetite. After a moderate workout leptin levels usually decrease and ghrelin levels increase this same effect was found after repetitive laughter. This is not suggesting that laughing will cause you to gain weight it just signifies that the body has similar response to repetitive laughter as it does to repetitive workout. This could benefit people who suffer from loss of appetite such as the elderly. Laughing has also been shown to reduce the stress hormones known as cortisol and catecholamine’s, much the same way that moderate physical exercise does.
Loma Linda University researchers found that even anticipating a good laugh could produce health protecting hormones. Endorphins increased 27% and HGH and anti-aging hormone increased as much as 87% when people even just thought about watching a funny movie. In earlier chapter we have learned the effects of humor on cognition, such as increasing creativity, memory. This result seems similar to the cognitive aspect of humor, if we even think we will find something funny we begin to produce protecting hormones.
For anyone who has laughed really hard it is evident that it provides exercise for muscles. Laughing is a facial and vocal expression of mirth that involves muscular, respiratory, and vocal activity this activity is responsible for some of the health benefits laughter has to offer. We use 13 facial muscles to produce a smile which increases blood flow. We breathe faster when we laugh which allows us to take in more oxygen that is then sent to body tissues. Vocal chords are used to create the unique sound of laughter. During a good belly laugh this exercises the diaphragm, contracts the abs, and works out the shoulders, leaving muscles more relaxed when done laughing. Laughing also reduces muscle tension, increases heart rate, breathing and oxygen use which beneficially stimulates the circulatory system.
Some other interesting physiological benefits of laughter are:
•Laughing 100 times a day gives you the same benefits as rowing for 10 minutes or equals 15min. on an exercise bike.
•15 minutes of laughter equals the benefit of 2 hours of sleep
• One good belly laugh burns off 3 ½ calories
• Laughing engages almost every major part of your body
*Laughing for 15 seconds adds 2 days to your lifespan
•When you laugh, head and facial muscles move. These muscles are connected to the thymus gland which in turn is responsible for the immune system. Laughing is beneficial for your immune system.
*A researcher at Vanderbilt University did a small study in which she found that about 50 calories are burned when laughing for 10-15min.
Although research studies regarding humor and health are somewhat limited and are subject to ridicule due to methodological limitations these findings give bases for future research. Anyone who has experienced a good laugh can agree that laughter is much like a work out. You laugh so hard that you run out of breath, your cheeks hurt from smiling so hard, and to the extreme even pee yourself due to lack of muscle control but after a good laugh you feel so good! This is because your muscles relax after a good laugh and this ease of muscle tension can last up to 45min.
Even if the research may not be accurate about how many calories laughing can burn I’m sure if you have a great belly laugh you will agree that laughing is similar to exercise.
I think my post have evolved because I have begun to use more terms and relating current topics to information we have learned in previous chapters. We have learned a great deal of information throughout this class but the book did a good job of mentioning connections to previous subject matter which I myself am trying to work on which I haven’t done a lot of in previous blogs.
http://www.humor-laughter.com
http://laughtertherapy.webs.com/researcharticles.htm
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2010/04/23/study-finds-laughter-similar-effects-exercise/
http://www.webmd.com/balance/news/20100427/laughter-affects-appetite-much-like-workout-does
http://www.folklore.ee/folklore/vol33/kriku.pdf
http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/dissertations/AAI9215518/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_B4QV2WKB0&feature=related
Language is often implicated in humor in a vast comparative structural way. If we look at humor in depth, there is one factor that gets overlooked in many cases being that of Linguistics. Linguistics has multiple effects on if something is considered to be funny or not. If a person just used one tone of voice when they talked to you, they would be view as boring or non-humorous. Also linguistics plays a part in how fast the information gets across to the recipient to actually process the incongruity of whatever the case may be. The delivery is pretty much sums it all up because if us being the recipient can’t comprehend the delivery we could actually develop a negative association with the person by labeling him/her as non-humorous when in fact the person could actually be quite the character.
. Humor may play off of lexical ambiguity (as in puns), meaning the usage of one word that has two or more meanings. It could also make use of linguistic ill-formedness or stigmatized forms, dialect features, etc. (as in ridicule using mimicry). You see humor used in the form of linguistic arguments that is, logically fallacious lines of reasoning whose apparent sense is derived from linguistic factors like ambiguity, metaphor, idioms, formal similarities etc. Multiple movie scripts display linguistic arguments which enhance the sense of humor being portrayed by the character. Mimicry for humorous effect may make specific use of linguistic features characteristic of a dialect or of an individual's speech pattern, or may impose artificial or exaggerated intonation patterns or voice quality. Listeners who view the speech patterns of another as unusual or different may laugh at them. Grammatical errors or differences can be the focus of humorous expression.
Some observers think these facts militate against a moral theory of humor. Many people are likely to see plays on grammar as unrelated to any kind of moral system -- especially linguists, who often view language as an affectless intellectual system (no coincidence!). Language is often thought of as a purely cognitive system, and for this reason, puns and linguistic humor are often proposed as counterexamples to the present theory of cognition.
However, all people live in a strongly evaluative sociolinguistic environment in which humor can be obtained by laughing at the different approaches taken across various cultures. Also the out-group laughs not at whats said but how its said. Like I got an Uncle from the country down south and the way he says certain things will have you dyin. PUT DEM CHIPS RIGHT THHURRRR. The out group would laugh at how he said it but within the in group it was just a request. Then you have the -prescriptive linguist that lacks emotional commitments to linguistic well-formedness. Linguistic issues are emotional ones in all societies. People may be quite offended if you point out that they use the historically long-established forms ``ain't'' or ``aks'', or that they ``drop their /g/'s''
Further, innumerable sociolinguistic studies have certainly shown that pronunciation differences can evoke strong evaluative responses in speakers (in the ``matched-guise'' experiments of Labov, 1966, and his many students), to such an extent that speakers are quite willing to judge a speaker's intelligence, prospects for employment and friendship, etc., on the basis of their pronunciation. Indeed, people frequently devalue one another because of purported linguistic misbehaviors, which are defined with respect to a system of opinions about the natural and proper order of language. In summary, you can have a good time laughing with a person but when it comes time to give you a job you’re not qualified in the area of enunciation. Even tho you show intelligence by using creativity, the way you deliver your speech is pretty much how a person places you in a category.
On these grounds, humor based on linguistic malformation is indeed consistent with the present theory heavy weighted with cognition. After further researching linguistics its obvious that a moral violation has a strong possibly of occur. People have moral opinions about language: they think it ought to be a certain way, and they care about it. Humor based on perceived malformations of language, therefore, is not a counterexample to a cognitive theory of humor with this type of approach.
I have explored humor as a possible mechanism our brain uses to enhance memory. In past blogs I have discussed the orbitofrontal cortex and its role in assigning emotionally tied reward values to specific stimuli, which seem to include stimuli eliciting a reaction of mirth, or possibly any emotion. It assigns these values by associating a graded dopamine release specific to each stimuli with that stimuli. The OFC is linked through neural pathways to the medial nucleus of the thalamus which is believed to be highly associated with memory. So perhaps this communication between the value giving OFC and the remembering medial nucleus of the thalamus provides a sort of emotional memory. A study investigated the relationship between age of an emotional memory and physical arousal (measured by galvanic skin response and heart rate). It found that age of a memory did not show any effect on strength of emotional response. Both angry and mirthful memories were remembered equally well whether they occured 30 days ago or 5 years ago. Perhaps the OFC plays a role in this emotional memory tendency. It seems that memories that have been associated by our brains with strong emotional responses remain associated with a strong emotional response. This may account for humors ability to seemingly boost memory, our brain seems to use high emotional arousal as a cue for marking information with "priority memory status" rather than just positive feedback. Or perhaps its both, the positive feedback we receive whether it be social or personal could cause an emotional response and therefore cue a specific situation or piece of information with emotional priority.
The first link leads to an interesting optical illusion, classic example of top-down processeing. First and foremost we see the big face in the center of the picture. Then as we continue to focus our featural scanning process completes and we notice more bodily shapes and faces. Areas in the brain such as the fusiform gyrus contain groups of neurons that identify speficic shapes as possibly human. When a particular feature is routed to them from ultimately the receptors on the retina they alert that there is a probability that the shapes being examined indicate a human is being examined. That is why we see human like features on all kinds of things, trees and rocks and mars. We have an area of our brain constantly examining the shapes we see for the possibility of seeing a human.
http://www.optillusions.com/dp/1-11.htm
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016787600000163X