...David Gogichaishvili Graduate Student, School of Telecommunications, Ohio University Independent Study with WILL HOYT on “Humor in Management” Spring 2002 Introduction This literature review on humor in management explores the issues of effectiveness of humor in the workplace. The primary focus is in management processes. Humorous managers are more effective, so to say. But there are some techniques and tips for turning your humor into managerial success. Not every type of humor can be appropriate. The “What” section of this study deals with a general background about humor. Questions like why we should use humor, whether we should use it at all, etc. will be answered in the “Why” section of this paper. And finally, the “How” section will explore some basic rules on how to use humor in the workplace appropriately. There will be some suggestions even for managers who lack a sense of humor. So, enjoy and remember the most important aspect of humor in the workplace: Your employees should laugh with you, not at you! WHAT Humor is a quintessentially social phenomenon, since every joke requires both a teller and an audience. A sense of humor is a different and positive perspective on events and things. It can be utilized as an instrument to develop an atmosphere that is conductive to motivation. Laughter itself has physical, emotional, and moral benefits. Humorous people tend to be more adaptive, more capable of handling stress, more intelligent and more analytical...
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...Humor is one of the most influential ways to bring people together. Hence why many late night shows incorporate humor into the telling of current events. If done correctly, the humorous topic can keep people well entertained and more willing to return for the next show. It is the same with literature, if the first ten pages of a book are drab and empty, chances may be for the reader to put that book down and never pick it up again. Other times, when the writing is interesting and well structured it can keep the reader up all night finishing the book. An article from The Onion is written concerning a new brand of shoe interests – MagnaSoles. It is a very humorous article pertaining to its uses of irony, satirical tone, and, of course, humor....
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...Satire humour has been forced to change over the years because of the fact that society has developed drastically. The advancement of technology controls our population as we have become so reliant on taking advantage of what we have access to. This has caused a decrease of intelligence, allowing satire humour to mock society in a harsher and sadly realistic way. Due to countries industrializing continuously, more and more toxins are being produced and released into the atmosphere, impacting the earth by contributing the increase of a controversial idea; global warming. All of the examples that I used to represent satire humour relate to the changing of the environment. I incorporated the same theme with the use of satire to show how criticism...
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...Humorous a Sign of Intelligence In order to produce exceptional humor, one must be highly creative and original. For example, if one creates a joke, they use both halves of their brain. The right brain is used for the creativity, the funniness of the joke. Their left brain is used to actually formulate the joke so it can be presented to someone in a sensible manner. The mind must be swift to make the connections between a set line of jokes or a play on words. Humor is a sign of creative innovation. This innovation aspect applies to people who can see and relate the world around them in a logical and sensible manner, but also in an unusual way. This brings up the saying “thinking outside of the box.” The general audience a joke is told to is “inside the box” while the joke teller is “outside the box.” This is the reason as to why some of the audience may laugh at someone’s joke, but a few others don’t. You can have a sense of humor and a source of humor. Having a sense of humor means that you can understand and laugh at a joke (e.g. “a man’s third leg”). If one has a source of humor, they could create a joke or a pun. You can have a sense of humor but be well off without a source of humor because you can laugh at any joke spoken to you. It is quite unlikely to only have a source of humor because one would not know whether a joke is funny or not. Someone with a sense of humor is able to strive in a social environment better than one without. For example, someone could get...
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...Humor. A word which, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, means “That quality which appeals to a sense of the ludicrous or absurdly incongruous.” Inside of that baroque definition though, the word has a broader meaning something that generates a sense of happiness, hilarity, and thoughtfulness in its listeners. It should be of note though, that this is only in the case that it is accomplished to its best effect, otherwise, it would take on a whole different form. Otherwise, humor stays roughly the same anytime and anyplace. Much like how happiness and who it affects can depend on who is on the receiving end of it, the concept or practice of humor can be very subjective as well. Its effect entirely weighs upon someone’s likes, dislikes...
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...Persuasion in Advertising: The Effects of Humor, Threat Intensity, and Issue Involvement Hye Jin Yoon Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, USA Spencer F. Tinkham University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA 2010) or ads that ridicule nonusers of the brand (Voss 2009), but these studies researched “humor types” and should be distinguished from humor effects studies in threat persuasion ads. By looking into both the humor and threat persuasion literature, we set out to understand how humorous threat persuasion works in advertising and for whom it may be most effective. Threat persuasion, otherwise known as fear appeal in advertising, deals with critical issues that might have negative consequences for the consumer or the public (e.g., health and environmental issues) (Freimuth et al. 1990). In the ad, threatening information presents the problem, and attitudinal or behavioral suggestions are given as solutions. Threat information is valuable in that it can help protect us from harm but is negative in valence and out of the ordinary in our daily lives. Such substantive yet negative and out-of-the-ordinary information is known to be unpleasant and cognitively arduous to process (e.g., Rozin and Royzman 2001; Schimmack 2005). When humor accompanies threat information, it can function as a buffer. By providing a positive surface cue that attenuates the negative thoughts and emotions and facilitates processing, humor can make a threat persuasion ad more pleasant...
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...Alain de Bottoms Satus Anxiety argus that the use of humor is not only for intertanement purpose only,like cartoons.In this case it’s use to alleviate the stress of the speaker,when they are addressing something serious to their audience.which is something many people are’t capable of just stating or addressing the people directly. The use of humor for this purpose have existed since the time of Canterbury tales ,still prevalent in todays time.An example of the use of humor to help the function in society ,by reducing the pressure on a person when delivering a serious topic or event are Jonh Olivers Satire on televangelis,the Onion piece on magnasoles and lastly the millers tale fro Canterbury tales. In the show with jonh olivers satire on...
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...Research Question “Does the use of humor after a national tragedy bring light to a dark time or is it seen as “too far”?” There are many different forms of jokes comedians can use after a national tragedy, but the most common form includes insult humor. The comedian’s use of insult humor can impact audience members for better or worse because some may take offense to what the joke insulted. Psychological distance will also play a role in with the individual audience member depending on how close they are to the tragedy that occurred because if a member of the audience was attached mentally, they could view it as a stab or insult to that tragedy. Background and Rationale Humor is a mental state that can be characterized by the appraisal that something is funny, the positive emotion of amusement, and the tendency to laugh. As a whole, humor facilitates coping and helps smooth out social relationships. It can assist in keeping sanity and regaining perspectives. The processing of painful events can take some time to overcome due to the emotional and physical impacts it can have on the person. Through humor, one can rise above...
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...A Pragmatic Analysis of English Humor in jokes Abstract Looking back at the history, humorous language and behaviour had been treated as frivolous, ludicrous, and even evil. However, with the development of social civilization, people have gradually realized that humour actually is indispensable for our monotonous and regular life. Humour is embodied in operas, movies, writings, conversations, etc. And the most common type is humorous conversations. In many pragmatics books, lots of humorous conversations can be found, which are employed to analyze pragmatics. So we can see that humour and pragmatics are closely connected. However, papers about humorous language with a pragmatic view are comparatively only a few. Besides, most of them only focus on certain aspects of pragmatics, for example, cooperative principle. Based on the main parts of pragmatics, this paper does a comparatively detailed research on the humorous language in English conversations. At the beginning of the thesis, some popular definitions of humour are compared and a conclusion is made. Then humour is classified into four types and its functions in the social interaction are specified. Key Words: English Humour; Conversational implicature; Violation; Humorous effects 摘 要 回望历史，幽默的语言和行为都被视为琐屑无聊，很可笑，和甚至邪恶。然而，随着社会文明的发展，人们逐渐认识幽默实际上是为我们的单调和定期生活不可或缺。幽默被体现在歌剧、 电影、 文字、 对话等。最常见的类型是幽默的交谈。 在许多语用学书籍，大量的幽默对话可以被发现，是用来分析语用学。所以我们可以看到幽默和语用学紧密相连的。然而，关于幽默的语言与语用的视图文件是相对较少。此外，绝大多数人只专注于某些方面的语用学，例如，合作原则。基于语用学的主要部分，本文做了较为详细的研究在英语会话幽默的语言。 ...
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...to persuade anyone that feels that they are incapable of doing something that anything is possible with hard work. She adopts a sentimental tone in order to appeal to her audiences feeling of confidence in themselves. Through Dillards effective use of certain words over others and her sense of humor, she is more capable of appealing to the emotions of her audience making them more confident. The very first thing that is noticed in Dillards text is the title, which in itself is a sophisticated form of her word choice. In her title “It’s Not Talent; It’s Just Work” Dillard makes...
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...Humor plays a major role in the play “ The Rez Sisters”, by Tomson Highway ( Fifth House, 1998). Humor is used within the play to handle trauma or hardships, to tease one another, and to push past, as well as break, stereotypes. Thus humor is what cultivates, shapes and shifts Aboriginal identity, playing a vital part in who they are. First, humor is a coping mechanism to avoid and push aside problems. It can also provide an output to talk about touchy subject matter, in a more uplifting way and as a result, further helps to release any tension one might have. Overall bringing people together and is they key to the strengthening of bonds within the play. For instance, using humor to deal with violence helps provide an understanding to...
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...Though humor can often be a welcome addition to many situations, using humor at work can often lead to unwanted outcomes. With the introduction of different genders in the workforce we have to take into consideration that different types of people appreciate different types of humor. With that in mind men and women respond differently to humor. Using the wrong style with the wrong people can have less than productive results. While men seem to appreciate a self-enhancing style of humor and women finding an affiliative style more to their liking. Humor with sexual undertones can lead to conflict and division of groups. These types of humor can be offensive and should be avoided in the workplace. While the use of humor can be a good thing it often can be a double edged sword mainly for the way others perceive it causing a misinterpretation. Using the wrong type of humor can have adverse effects, with people having different views resulting in less than proactive results. Misunderstanding of humor can materialize feelings of discontent, alienation, inferiority, and anger. Most times it is better to avoid the use of aggressive humor as it can make others feel intimidated and cause competition between employees. To effectively use humor in the work place is possible but efforts must be taken to provide a comfortable platform. Using the correct types of humor and reading the situation and audience to select the proper humor style to use can be the largest challenge. The OHM model...
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...Public speaking is something we intentionally or unintentionally do on a daily basis. Every day you either persuade others to your point of view or they persuade you to theirs. As years have gone by, persuasion has changed and we must change our persuasion skills in order to adapt ourselves to the 21st century. For every human being that presents there is always a first time; a first time speaking from a platform, a first time standing behind a podium etc. After these “first” persuasive presentations, presenters feel like they could have done better. I will introduce to you the key concepts and theories that a professional presenter should acknowledge and learn to improve their persuasive presentation skills. In order to become a skilled and self-assured presenter, one should entail personal preparation, professional development and practice. Take in consideration that a person does not become a presenter solely by reading a presentation, but by personal preparation. Practicing is the essential in all presentations and it boosts up the presenters confidence. Presenting a persuasive presentation is seen as achieving a goal, therefore this engages in a step to step process which enables the presenter to gain insight and experience on the subject. One of the most essential key concepts for a successful persuasive presentation is practice. The ability to present effectively is developed by practice, practice produced proficiency and without practice a speaker does not...
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...apples – and I am currently in grade 12 (well I guess you already knew that!) I have been at ASB for a year now; I joined at the start of 11th grade, and have thoroughly enjoyed myself here. The school is great, the people are fantastic and the atmosphere is one that makes you actually want to go to school. Before I joined ASB I was studying at the Singapore American School for two years and prior to that I was at the International School of Kuala Lumpur for two years. I was born and raised here in Bombay city and grew up here. I am an interesting, fun loving guy with a good sense of humor. One thing about me that is important to know though is that at first I come of as a very shy individualistic guy but once I get to know people and are comfortable with my environment I am great. It is hard for me to make friends but once I make them, it’s great and I am all different. I joke, laugh and humor people and I also get as much as I give. I am a very kind, compassionate, sensitive guy as my close friends will tell you. I have a tough shell but on the inside I am soft. I am also a very principled person and stand strong on what is right and wrong. I am also a very straight and honest person. I understand and know that we all put on a show sometimes and do not show who we really are or what we feel but some people do this constantly and those kinds of people I cannot stand. Academically I am a student who likes to be mentally challenged and I enjoy both hands on projects as well...
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...Organizational Behavior Behavioral Analysis TOPIC: HUMOUR Organizational Behavior Behavioral Analysis TOPIC: HUMOUR INDIVIDUAL WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT: Organizational Behaviour Behavioural Analysis: Humour Introduction: An old lady, who was very stingy at spending money and would refrain from spending a single dime unnecessarily, was gifted a cell phone on her 80th birthday by her grandchildren. To their surprise, she would call them almost every day and speak to them for hours at a stretch. When they finally asked her how she was spending so much money on paying the cell phones usage bill she replied, ‘All my calls are free because this phone has no wires and is not connected to anything!’ Humour is a good note to start the day on. It instils a feeling of happiness at the very beginning of the day which sometimes helps you last throughout the day. I personally am a huge fan of humour, may be not the most humourous of them all but would take up every chance to have a good laugh and take off some of the pressure that’s been piling up! What is Humour? Humour essentially means taking delight in the mirthful and the ludicrous. I have many a times experienced from encounters with some very humourous people, that they are the most popular and desired category of people in a social get together or for that matter even formal gatherings. Their presence in any gathering is highly welcomed, at family get-togethers, religious ceremonies,...
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