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Journal ArticleDOI

Developing a Typology of Humor in Audiovisual Media

01 May 2004-Media Psychology (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.)-Vol. 6, Iss: 2, pp 147-167
TL;DR: The authors developed and investigated a typology of humor in audiovisual media and identified 41 humor techniques, drawing on Berger's (1976, 1993) typology, audience research on humor preferences, and an inductive analysis of humorous commercials.
Abstract: The main aim of this study was to develop and investigate a typology of humor in audiovisual media. We identified 41 humor techniques, drawing on Berger's (1976, 1993) typology of humor in narratives, audience research on humor preferences, and an inductive analysis of humorous commercials. We analyzed the content of 319 humorous television commercials to investigate (a) whether and how humor techniques cluster into higher order humor categories and (b) which humor techniques and categories characterize commercials aimed at different audience groups. From principle components analysis, 7 categories of humor emerged: slapstick, clownish humor, surprise, misunderstanding, irony, satire, and parody. Our findings showed some marked differences in the humor techniques and categories in commercials aimed at different age and gender groups.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article investigated children's understanding of six popular tactics used by advertisers to elicit advertising effects, including ad repetition, product demonstration, and product demonstration and found that children understood ad repetition was more effective than product demonstration.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate children’s understanding of six popular tactics used by advertisers to elicit certain advertising effects, including ad repetition, product demonstration, p...

142 citations


Cites background from "Developing a Typology of Humor in A..."

  • ...…six persuasive tactics can be identified that are frequently used in child-directed advertising and are found to be effective (Boush et al. 1994; Buijzen & Valkenburg 2004; Valkenburg 2004; Calvert 2008): ad repetition (the advertisement is repeated several times); product demonstration (the…...

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Six studies, which use entertainment, consumer products, and social interaction as stimuli, reveal that the benign violation hypothesis better differentiates humorous from nonhumorous experiences than common conceptualizations of incongruity.
Abstract: After 2.5 millennia of philosophical deliberation and psychological experimentation, most scholars have concluded that humor arises from incongruity. We highlight 2 limitations of incongruity theories of humor. First, incongruity is not consistently defined. The literature describes incongruity in at least 4 ways: surprise, juxtaposition, atypicality, and a violation. Second, regardless of definition, incongruity alone does not adequately differentiate humorous from nonhumorous experiences. We suggest revising incongruity theory by proposing that humor arises from a benign violation: something that threatens a person's well-being, identity, or normative belief structure but that simultaneously seems okay. Six studies, which use entertainment, consumer products, and social interaction as stimuli, reveal that the benign violation hypothesis better differentiates humorous from nonhumorous experiences than common conceptualizations of incongruity. A benign violation conceptualization of humor improves accuracy by reducing the likelihood that joyous, amazing, and tragic situations are inaccurately predicted to be humorous. (PsycINFO Database Record

106 citations


Cites background from "Developing a Typology of Humor in A..."

  • ...Some scholars believe that it is not worth pursuing a general explanation of humor, arguing instead that different humor theories explain different forms of comedy (Buijzen & Valkenburg, 2004; Strohminger, 2011)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The findings indicate that television advertising does influence online shopping and that advertising content plays a key role, and imply that brands seeking to attract multitaskers' attention and dollars must select their advertising copy carefully.
Abstract: Media multitasking competes with television advertising for consumers’ attention, but it also may facilitate immediate and measurable response to some advertisements. This paper explores whether and how television advertising influences online shopping. We construct a massive dataset spanning $3.4 billion in spending by 20 brands, measures of brands’ website traffic and transactions, and ad content measures for 1,224 commercials. We use a quasi-experimental design to estimate whether and how TV advertising influences changes in online shopping within two-minute pre/post windows of time. We use non-advertising competitors’ online shopping in a difference-in-differences approach to measure the same effects in two-hour windows around the time of the ad. The findings indicate that television advertising does influence online shopping and that advertising content plays a key role. Action-focus content increases direct website traffic and sales. Product-focus and emotion-focus ad content actually reduce website traffic while simultaneously increasing purchases, with a net effect on sales that is positive for most brands. These results imply that brands seeking to attract multitaskers’ attention and dollars must select their advertising copy carefully.

104 citations


Cites background from "Developing a Typology of Humor in A..."

  • ...Unusually large exceptions are Buijzen and Valkenburg (2004), who identified the presence of 41 types of humor in 316 advertisements, and Anderson et al. (2013) and Liaukonyte (2013), who coded the product attributes communicated by 1,571 OTC pain medication ads. survey of 14 academics who conduct…...

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article extended political humor effects research by focusing on two distinct types of satire, juvenalian and horatian, and found that different satire types produce divergent effects depending on the ability of the audience member.
Abstract: This study extends political humor effects research by focusing on two distinct types of satire, juvenalian and horatian. Theoretical arguments grounded in the elaboration likelihood model culminated in the positing of a series of interactions between message (juvenalian, horatian, traditional opinion-editorial) and recipient ability (high, low) relative to three outcome variables: perceived humor, counterarguing, and attitudes concerning Hillary Clinton’s universal health care plan. An experiment was conducted during the 2008 Democratic primary election. The Message × Ability interactions revealed a need to step beyond the study of satire as monolithic; different types of satire produce divergent effects depending on the ability of the audience member. Future lines of research and the need for additional theory building are discussed.

103 citations


Cites background from "Developing a Typology of Humor in A..."

  • ...However, humorous content comes in many different forms (Buijzen & Valkenberg, 2004), and several scholars have outlined a multitude of message differences when comparing and contrasting various types of humorous messages (e.g., Rockwell, 2006; Rowland, 1985; Simpson, 2003)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Findings from a content analysis of frequently retweeted obesity-related tweets are reported to identify the prevalent beliefs and attitudes about obesity on Twitter, as well as key message features that prompt retweeting behavior conducive to maximizing the reach of health messages on Twitter.
Abstract: Twitter has been recognized as a useful channel for the sharing and dissemination of health information, owing in part to its “retweet” function. This study reports findings from a content analysis of frequently retweeted obesity-related tweets to identify the prevalent beliefs and attitudes about obesity on Twitter, as well as key message features that prompt retweeting behavior conducive to maximizing the reach of health messages on Twitter. The findings show that tweets that are emotionally evocative, humorous, and concern individual-level causes for obesity were more frequently retweeted than their counterparts. Specifically, tweets that evoke amusement were retweeted most frequently, followed by tweets evoking contentment, surprise, and anger. In regard to humor, derogatory jokes were more frequently retweeted than nonderogatory ones, and in terms of specific types of humor, weight-related puns, repartee, and parody were shared frequently. Consistent with extant literature about obesity, the findings...

101 citations


Cites background or methods from "Developing a Typology of Humor in A..."

  • ...Of the original 27 humor types from the Buijzen and Valkenburg (2004) taxonomy that are relevant to textual humor, in total 16 humor types were identified (see Table 3)....

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  • ...Once the humorous tweets were identified, the coders classified them into different types of humor utilizing the categorization scheme offered by Buijzen and Valkenburg (2004)....

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  • ...In this study, we utilized a theory-grounded humor typology developed by Buijzen and Valkenburg (2004) to examine the types of humor that are frequently retweeted....

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References
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Book
01 Jan 1905
Abstract: While in this book Freud tells some good stories with his customary verve and economy, its point is wholly serious

2,068 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, humor's enactment leads to four basic functions of humor in communication: identification and clarification functions, enforcement and differentiation functions, and superiority theory, which can be used to delineate social boundaries.
Abstract: The compelling power of humor makes it a recurrent topic for research in many fields, including communication Three theories of humor creation emerge in humor research: the relief theory, which focuses on physiological release of tension; the incongruity theory, singling out violations of a rationally learned pattern; and the superiority theory, involving a sense of victory or triumph Each theory helps to explain the creation of different aspects of humor, but each runs into problems explaining rhetorical applications of humor Because each theory of humor origin tries to explain all instances of humor, the diverging communication effects of humor remain unexplained Humor's enactment leads to 4 basic functions of humor in communication Two tend to unite communicators: the identification and the clarification functions The other 2 tend to divide 1 set of communicators from others: the enforcement and differentiation functions Exploration of these effects-based functions of humor will clarify understanding of its use in messages Humor use unites communicators through mutual identification and clarification of positions and values, while dividing them through enforcement of norms and differentiation of acceptable versus unacceptable behaviors or people This paradox in the functions of humor in communication as, alternately, a unifier and divider, allows humor use to delineate social boundaries

631 citations

Book
01 Jan 1979

553 citations


"Developing a Typology of Humor in A..." refers background or methods or result in this paper

  • ...Absurdity, nonsense, and surprise are vital themes in humor covered by this theory (Berger, 1993; McGhee, 1979; Veatch, 1998)....

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  • ...They also like absurdity (McGhee, 1979) and more gross types of humor such as irreverent humor and humor based on taboos or disgust (Acuff & Reiher, 1997; Oppliger & Zillmann, 1997)....

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  • ...Other people’s misfortunes are perceived as humorous only in accidental or unintentional cases or if the object of humor is an unpleasant character (McGhee, 1979)....

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  • ...Due to children’s increasing ability to take another person’s point of view (Flavell, Miller, & Miller, 1993), teasing and invective humor are found less humorous by this group than in the younger age group (McGhee, 1979)....

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  • ...Irony and surprise rely on play with logic, words, and knowledge and are, therefore, most appropriate for adolescents and adults (McGhee, 1979)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The use of humor has become common practice in advertising; yet our knowledge about its impact has not been updated since the last major review almost twenty years ago as mentioned in this paper, which only partially supports earlier conclusions and highlights the need to apply humor with care.
Abstract: The use of humor has become common practice in advertising; yet our knowledge about its impact has not been updated since the last major review almost twenty years ago. In the interim, a great deal of humor research has been conducted. The outcome of this research only partially supports earlier conclusions and highlights the need to apply humor with care. Humor is by no means a guarantee of better ads, but its effect can be enhanced with careful consideration of the objectives one seeks to achieve as well as the audience, situation, and type of humor.

450 citations


"Developing a Typology of Humor in A..." refers background or result in this paper

  • ...Adult women tend to appreciate nonsensical and silly humor more often than men (Brodzinsky et al, 1981; Johnson, 1992; Weinberger & Gulas, 1992), whereas men more frequently prefer malicious (Unger 1996), sick (Herzog & Karafa, 1998), and sexual humor (Groch, 1974; Hassett & Houlihan, 1979)....

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  • ...Previous studies of the effects of humor on attention, liking, comprehension, and recall often produced contradictory results (for a review, see Weinberger & Gulas, 1992)....

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  • ...In adulthood age differences become less important, whereas other demographic factors such as gender, culture, and socioeconomic status become more important determinants of humor appreciation (Weinberger & Gulas, 1992)....

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  • ...In commercials aimed at women and girls, more innocent humor categories such as clownish humor prevailed, which is also consistent with research on female humor preferences (Brodzinsky et al., 1981; Johnson, 1992; Weinberger & Gulas, 1992)....

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Book
01 Jan 1972

293 citations