Dissecting a frog: a meta-Analytic evaluation of humor intensity in persuasion research

ABSTRACT

After decades of study, much of what comprises ‘funny’ content remains subjective. A meta-analysis of 80 experimental humor manipulations sought to identify what makes a stimulus funny by focusing on its content, audience, and research design. Results suggest that content which draws upon theoretically grounded techniques like surprise, tension relief, and superiority leads to stronger effects on perceived humor. Study design features such as the message modality and scale type also significantly influence perceptions of humor. This evidence suggests that methodology plays a key role in explaining the variance in perceived humor. The process of conducting this synthesis revealed the need for more widespread stimuli testing to confirm whether messages designed to elicit humor are indeed interpreted as such.

KEYWORDS:

• Meta-Analysis
• humor
• persuasion
• media effects
• message design

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Examples of content within this category include word puns such as ‘ANGLER Laundry Detergent: A person who catches fish sometimes by patience or luck but mostly by the tale’ (Krishnan & Chakravarti, 2003) or the addition of sarcasm and hyperbole to an argumentative speech (Markiewicz, 1972).