Abstract
Despite its long history in communication, scholars continue to debate whether humor enhances or undermines persuasive attempts. To better understand the contingencies of humor effects, we conducted a meta-analysis of 89 studies across the various fields in which humor has been researched over time. Overall, humor has a weak and significant effect on persuasion (r =.13). Further, results indicate that humor has a moderate-level influence on knowledge (r =.23) and only a weak impact on attitudes (r =.12) and behavioral intent (r =.09). The analysis supports the dual-processing nature of humorous messages, with related-humor being more effective for highlyinvolved individuals. Finally, while the analysis did not support the humor sleepereffect prediction, the results revealed an inverted U-shaped effect of humor intensity on persuasion.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 343-373 |
| Number of pages | 31 |
| Journal | Human Communication Research |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 1 2018 |
Funding
The authors gratefully acknowledge Lynn Miller, Robin Nabi, Daniel O’Keefe, Stephen Rains, Miriam Walter, the Editor and three anonymous reviewers for their valuable insights and constructive comments. This work was supported by the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California.
Keywords
- Humor
- Media effects
- Meta-analysis
- Persuasion
- Satire
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Communication
- Developmental and Educational Psychology
- Anthropology
- Linguistics and Language