Humor and Persuasion

Prepare a three- to five-page paper (not including title and reference pages), formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center, that details the effectiveness of humor in persuasion. You may use this week’s recommended scholarly sources as a basis for your observations. Your paper should delineate three or more aspects of the effectiveness of humor and indicate at least three risks of attempting to use humor in persuasion. Your paper should include previous theories of persuasion and discuss how the technique of humor can support or limit the effectiveness of persuasion

Humor has always worked for me when I attempt to persuade others.  I have often used this tool when tension arises or my viewpoint dramatically clashes with another point of view that is important to me.  Humor, particularly irony and self-effacement, have been found effective in persuasive communication.  Using humor in persuasion is a risk, but well worth the risk when humor is effective in swaying an audience to a specific point of view.   Expectancy violations theory is affected by strategically misaligned humor, distracting from the message itself and instead focusing on the humor; the risk use of humor is that the message might be misconstrued if it differs too much from what is expected.  Mere exposure to a message delivered humorously can affect persuasion, such as a sign or billboard individuals pass as they drive to work each day.  Humor creates cognitive dissonance, affecting attitudes or beliefs through laughter.  Humor is an effective tool in persuasion. Humor aligns with some basic persuasive theories and impacts message receivers.

            The effectiveness of humor in persuasion has very little empirical research to give credence, however correlations have been found with the use of irony and persuasion (Lyttle, 2001).  Irony distracts the message receiver by creating a necessity for dual processing of the message, preventing a negative voice in the message receiver’s head because the brain is distracted by processing the message and the irony (Lyttle, 2001).   Humor that is self-effacing is also effective because it actually gives credibility to the persuader who is willing to be the butt of the message joke (Lyttle, 2001).

            Expectancy violations theories assume people expect certain behavior, or rather, normal behavior (Seiter & Gass, 2004).  When individuals act differently than their prescribed roles dictate, then message receivers are surprised (Seiter & Gass, 2004).  Sometimes expectancy violations provide the persuader an edge in with the audience being persuaded.  A man speaking out for women’s issues or a cattle farmer arguing for vegans are two examples of expectancy violations.  The receivers of expectancy violations are distracted and pay attention to the person sending the message instead of focusing on the message itself (Seiter & Gass, 2004).  Humor, in an expectancy violations approach, distracts the audience into appreciating the message, a message that makes them laugh.  Laughing with the persuader, the audience then feels compelled to internalize the message.

            Mere exposure theory is a theory that people are persuaded simply by repeat exposure (Seiter & Gass, 2004).  Driving on the freeway I see the same humorous billboard every day.  The billboard has a funny message that makes me laugh so I repeat the joke to my husband or some friends.  The joke becomes a regular part of our conversations when something funny comes up that relates.  I may not have agreed with the original message, but because the joke was funny the message started to sink in and before I am even aware of it, an attitude change has occurred and now I agree with the message because of the funny joke.  Nobody had to persuade me, I just repeatedly drove past the same funny billboard on the freeway everyday.  By mere exposure to the message, delivered in a humorous way, I am persuaded along with all the friends I shared the joke with.  Humor is truly a brilliant way to persuade with mere exposure to a message.

            Print advertising is a mere exposure message delivery system where humor aids persuasion (Cline & Kellaris, 1999).  Consumers hold a preference for brands that use humor in their print advertisements (Cline & Kellaris).  However, a strong argument does not need humor and may actually be more persuasive without humor (Cline & Kellaris, 1999).  This is another example of when humor is risky.

            Cognitive Dissonance Theory is a theory that states people feel dissonance if their attitudes, theories, or beliefs are not in alignment (Seiter & Gass, 2004).   Individuals will strive to make internal adjustments and find harmony with their internal discord when they are out of alignment (Seiter & Gass, 2004).  A message that a receiver finds to be humorous may actually stimulate cognitive dissonance.  I imagine a really funny comedian starts a humorous political attack on a candidate I voted for or support.  Through humor this comedian makes me laugh about a behavior or decision my favored politician made.  I may have been in denial or blind to the faulty behavior or decision-making process until the comedian opens my mind through humor.  This is a hypothetical situation, but I can actually think of specific times this has actually happened to me.

            Humor is something I rely on personally in persuasion and I have experienced persuasion by others who have made me laugh.  Irony and self-effacement have been found effective persuasive tools.  While some risks are involved with using humor, careful application or humor outweighs the risks.  Several theories of persuasion such as expectancy violations theory, mere exposure theory, and cognitive dissonance theory can be looked at from a humorist perspective. Expectancy violations theory is risky if the receiver of the message rejects the humor, but humor can be found in the unexpected.  Mere exposures to humor in print ads and billboards have a persuasive impact from repeat exposure and something to laugh about.   Humor can create cognitive dissonance triggering a reevaluation of beliefs, attitudes or values.  Humor is an effective tool in persuasion.

References

Cline, Thomas W, & Kellaris, James J. (1999). The joint impact of humor and argument strength in a print advertising context: A case for weaker arguments. Psychology & Marketing, 16(1), 69. Retrieved March 15, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 37875581).

Lyttle, J.  (2001). The effectiveness of humor in persuasion: The case of business ethics training. The Journal of General Psychology, 128(2), 206-16.  Retrieved March 15, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 77223102).

Seiter, John E., and Gass, Robert H. (2004), Perspectives on Persuasion, Social Influence, and Compliance Gaining, Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson Education.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

LopesWrite Policy

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
• Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
• Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.