FUNCTION OF HUMOR IN COMMUNICATION 1

The Function of Humor in Communication

Jamilya Dickens

Gonzaga University

May 2019
FUNCTION OF HUMOR IN COMMUNICATION 2

Humor in communication is not as widely developed as some other theories of

communication. There are many definitions of what constitutes humor. The Oxford English

Dictionary defines humor as “that quality of action, speech, or writing which excites amusement;

oddity, jocularity, facetiousness, comicality, fun” (as cited in Martin, 2007, p. 5). Author

Mahadev Apte (1985) states that humor “is viewed as a cognitive experience involving an

internal redefining of sociocultural reality and resulting in a ‘mirthful’ state of mind, of which

laughter is a possible external display” (DiCioccio, 2012). Author Rod Martin (2007) suggests

that humor is “a broad term that refers to anything that people say or do that is perceived as

funny and tends to make others laugh” (DiCioccio, 2012). Despite the many ways that humor

can be defined, there are two general categories that the definitions tend to fall under:

appreciation/interpretation of humor and creation/production of humor (Martin & Lefcourt,

1984). People can often appreciate humor without being able to produce it, but if one can

produce humor they can, more than likely, also understand humor (DiCioccio, 2012).

Humor is used by people for many reasons. Through a small focus group and a one-on-

one interview, I sought to understand the reasons some people use humor, the type(s) of humor

that people felt drawn to or repulsed by, and the benefits that could be achieved by using humor

in communication. The focus group consisted of three female classmates via video conference.

There was no prior relationship with any of the participants other than participating in a group

paper and presentation for this class. All communication prior to the video conference had been

via text and email. The participants were asked three basic questions aimed to understand what

they perceived as the benefits of humor and its uses in communication.

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The one-on-one interview was conducted with a good friend that I have known for twelve

years named Genesis Jelkes. Genesis is known in her friend group as the funny person who uses

humor in nearly every situation possible, even to her detriment at times. Genesis was chosen

primarily because her occupational role seems contradictory to her humorous and silly

personality. Genesis is the Dean of Discipline at a college preparatory high school on the south

side of Chicago, Illinois. Genesis has risen to her current position within the last three years. As

someone who knows Genesis very well, it came as a surprise to learn of her chosen profession.

That made her an excellent candidate for this study into the role of humor in communication.

The goal of the interview was to discuss how Genesis uses humor in her occupation and to learn

why Genesis uses humor in nearly all aspects of her life.

The remainder of this paper will explore the findings from both the focus group and the

one-on-one interview. The findings will then be connected to previous studies of the function,

role, and implications of humor in communication by experts in the field.

Focus Group Findings

The focus group was started by asking the three participants to describe a time when

someone’s attempt at humor fell short. There were multiple reasons for this question. The first

reason was to understand what type of humor the participants did not enjoy as well as to discern

what type of environment did participants feel that humor was not appropriate. Another reason

for this question was to see if participants would describe a memory from a group or individual

setting. Humor is often used as a way to connect with others. It was not surprising that all three

focus group participants described situations that occurred in group settings as opposed to one-

on-one interactions.
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One participant (Participant A) described a supervisor who primarily uses old movie

quotes that no one understands in formal meetings. Participant A said that she would describe

this individual as “an over-sized frat boy”. Participant A mentioned that most people, when

interacting with this supervisor, are often confused by his use of movie quotes as most “don’t get

it”. Participant A went on to say that she interpreted her supervisors attempts at humor as his way

of trying to relate and connect with those around him.

Participant B described two instances where she observed an attempt at humor that fell

short. The first instance involved two male co-workers, one being a supervisor, who bonded in

the workplace primarily because the workplace is majority female. In office meetings, the two

males would often joke about things that no one else in the group understood, as they were not

privy to the interactions that the two males had experienced. This is known as the commonly

used term inside jokes. Participant B explained that joking between the two sometimes interfered

with work being accomplished in meetings. Participant B also described how her own attempts at

humor through sarcasm went unnoticed with the third-grade students that she teaches.

Lastly, Participant C described an introductory meeting at the beginning of the school

year at the community college at which she is employed. During this meeting, the president of

the institution spent nearly two hours talking about himself. The was, apparently, not the purpose

of the meeting. The president told what he thought were funny anecdotes about his life that

confused and frustrated his audience who had not come to this meeting for this purpose.

Participant C recognized that the president had hoped to use humor to connect with those in the

audience, but it only led to audience members sharing humorous looks and laughs with one

another about the president.

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Participants were next asked to describe a time when humor had a healing effect.

Participant A spoke about her close relationship with her grandfather with whom she shares a

dark sense of humor. Participant A described how, during her years as an undergraduate, her

grandparents invited her over for a weekly dinner. She mentioned how other family members

would notice a difference in her grandfather’s spirits after those weekly dinners. Her grandfather

always appeared happier at those times.

Participant B talked about a previous professor. This professor introduced participant B

to “laughter yoga”. In laughter yoga, you are instructed to intentionally laugh. It does not matter

if the laughter is real. At some point during the laughter yoga session, the laughter becomes real

and helps to ease tension. Participant still occasionally engages in laughter yoga to feel better

when she is down. She even taught it to her students.

Participant B also discussed watching stand-up comedy specials on Netflix to deal with

bouts of depression. She explained that laughing at others’ stories of struggles helped her feel

better about her own.

Participant C described how her boyfriend helps her during stressful times. Participant C

spoke specifically about having a difficult time communicating with her ex-husband. When

explaining the stressful situation to her boyfriend, he was able to use humor to help her see that

things would be ok.

The final question in the focus group did not yield any meaningful data. Participants were

asked who their favorite comedian was and why. The question appeared to catch participants off

guard, causing them to struggle to come up with an answer off the top of their heads
FUNCTION OF HUMOR IN COMMUNICATION 6

The focus group interview revealed that humor plays a more significant role in some

people’s lives than they realized. As mentioned before, humor in communication is not as widely

studied as other interdisciplinary subjects. It is my opinion that participants walked away from

this focus group with a stronger grasp on the role that humor plays in their lives.

Interview Findings

During the one-on-one interview, Ms. Jelkes was asked 8-10 questions (including follow-

ups to original questions). The goal of the interview was to discover how humor plays a role in

Ms. Jelkes’s professional life as well as to learn the reasons behind Ms. Jelkes’s ever-present

humor. Due to the length of the interview, and for the sake of brevity, the findings from this

interview will be presented differently than the findings from the focus group.

After interviewing Ms. Jelkes, it became clear than her use of humor had the purpose of

making others feel happiness and connectedness. Ms. Jelkes believed that using humor allows us

to relieve the stresses of everyday life. She also stated that we are attracted to those who share

our own sense of humor. In other words, we often form friendships and intimate relationships

with those who find the same things funny that we do.

Ms. Jelkes was asked to describe a time when someone did not understand her sense of

humor. She described an individual who took everything literally, including jokes. Ms. Jelkes

found it uncomfortable whenever she or someone else had to explain the joke to this individual.

Due to this disconnect, Ms. Jelkes chose not to attempt to engage further or to find a different

connection with this person. Because humor is so much a part of Ms. Jelkes’s personality, she

decided it would take too much effort to build and maintain a friendship with this person.
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Ms. Jelkes expressed a belief that humor aids in memory. She referenced punch lines in

jokes. Most people may forget the whole joke but will remember the punch line if it made them

laugh. Ms. Jelkes stated that the point of communication is to get a message from someone to

others and that humor helps to do that by causing a memory that remains long after the message

has been delivered.

The interview then moved specifically into the role that humor plays in Ms. Jelkes’s

occupation. Ms. Jelkes was asked how she uses humor to make connections with students given

her intimidating title. Ms. Jelkes spoke about spending time with students outside of the

disciplinary office. These times included lunch hour, after-school sporting events (practices,

games/tournaments), and school dances, such as homecoming and prom. Ms. Jelkes also detailed

how she connects with students about hair, fashion, and pop culture. By showcasing humor in

these interactions with students, Ms. Jelkes often has an easier time dealing with students when it

comes to doling out punishments. Because the students are already familiar with her, Ms. Jelkes

can use her humor to gain trust and compliance with the students.

Ms. Jelkes gave an example of how she uses humor in disciplinary settings. When a

student is sent from class for an infraction, Ms. Jelkes and her team must interview the teacher

and student in question to generate a report and determine the discipline required. Ms. Jelkes

explained that most of the time students will claim that they were simply doing their work when

the teacher dismissed them from class. Ms. Jelkes would humorously demonstrate a scenario

where the student is doing nothing but their work and pretend to be a teacher throwing the

student out without provocation. This often had the effect of getting the student to laugh at the

ridiculousness of such a scenario and ultimately provide more details as to what actually

occurred.
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Ms. Jelkes also expressed that her use of humor at work sometimes has an adverse effect.

For example, Ms. Jelkes might make a joke about a student loving their phone. Having phones

out during school hours is against school policy. When the student is later served with detention

for having their phone out, they are often upset with Ms. Jelkes as they took her use of humor as

consent. Ms Jelkes explained that she is constantly trying to find balance of when to use humor

at work and when it may be inappropriate. Ms. Jelkes used the term “turn it off”, meaning tone

down the humor based on the situation at hand.

Ms. Jelkes concluded the interview by sharing her final thoughts on humor. She

confessed that she sometimes uses humor as an unhealthy coping method to deal with stressful

times, but she primarily uses humor to connect with others and to make people feel good. Ms.

Jelkes believe that without humor there would be no balance in communication.

Comparison of Methods

The focus group and interview yielded varying degrees of qualitative data. The

information offered by the focus group was more formal and less discussion-based than intended.

Participants offered up individual answers rather than discussion that supported or disputed one

another’s responses. There are multiple justifications as to why this occurred. It could have been

due to the structure of the questions that we asked of the participants. It could have been due to

the unfamiliarity of the participants with one another as well as with the focus group leader. The

manner in which the focus group was held may also have been a factor. The group decided to

conduct all five focus groups one after the other within a single two-hour video call after most

participants had worked all day at their full-time jobs. The timing of the video call may have

contributed to the brevity of the responses received from the participants.

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On the other hand, the interview was conducted with a friend that shared a long history

with the interviewer. The interviewee volunteered to be a part of the study as opposed to being

assigned a task the way that the focus group participants were. The interviewee felt a sense of

comfort in knowing that there would be no judgment from a long-time friend and was very

candid in her responses. Even though the same or similar questions were asked in both the focus

group and the interview, the relationship with the interviewer played a role in the responses

received.

Connection to Text

The focus group and one-on-one interview highlighted several previously documented

theories and concepts of humor communication. Author Rachel DiCioccio (2012) highlights the

four key social functions of humor:

1. Identification- Reinforces interpersonal bonds and group cohesiveness; occurs

with messages that invoke and stress shared context or meaning (I.e. inside jokes).

2. Clarification- Encapsulates an opinion or belief in a sharp phrase or anecdote.

3. Enforcement- Provides for potentially friendly criticism of one violating social

expectations; indicates that a violation may be funny now but needs to be

corrected in the future.

4. Differentiation- Contrasting one group or individual dramatically opposed to

another; sets up and reinforces social boundaries.

Participant B shared how the only two male colleagues often shared inside jokes with one

another during group meetings. The male co-workers likely did so to show that they identify

with one another through their shared humor, even to the detriment of the purpose of the
FUNCTION OF HUMOR IN COMMUNICATION 10

meeting. Ms. Jelkes shared an example of using humor as an enforcement when joking with

her student about their phone but then reprimanding the student with detention later.

There were also elements of the use of persuasion through humor. By using humor, Ms.

Jelkes was able to persuade students to be more forthcoming with information regarding their

behavior in the classroom. DiCioccio (2012) writes, “Rationality and objectivity go hand in

hand, and humorous messages promoting more objectivity through laughing at an issue may

lead to persuasion through rational appeals” (p. 23). By getting a laughter response from

students, Ms. Jelkes is able to persuade them to tell the truth. This is an example of the

clarification function of humor as it causes the recipient to think about something (their

behavior in this example) differently than before.

Humor has the ability to simultaneously unite and divide people. The four key functions

listed above fall on a spectrum from most unifying (number one) to most divisive (number

four). Humor’s ultimate function can only be understood by focusing on both the receiver

and the context (DiCioccio, 2012). Participant C eluded to this in her account of the poor

presentation given by the president of the community college where she works.

As stated before, humor communication is still in the early stages as compared to other

areas of communication research. After conducting this focus group and interview, it is clear

than the use of humor in communication is widespread and can be found in all professions,

ages, genders, cultures, etc. Whether making an introduction, connecting with peers or family

members, or healing from difficult or troubling matters, one can find practical uses for humor

every day.
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References

Apte, M. (1989). Humor and laughter: An anthropological approach. Ithaca, NY: Cornell

University Press.

DiCioccio, R. L. (2012). Humor communication: Theory, impact and outcomes. Dubuque, IA:

Kendall Hunt.

Martin, R. A. (2007). The psychology of humor: An integrative approach. Burlington, MA:

Elsevier Academic Press.

Martin, R. A., & Lefcourt, H. M. (1984). Situational humor response questionnaire: Quantitative

measure of sense of humor. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 47, 145-155.
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APPENDIX A

INTERVIEW NOTES (Loosely transcribed)

Topic: Humor in Communication

Interviewee: Genesis Jelkes
Occupation: Dean of Discipline at Gary Comer College Prep (Noble Network Charter School)

Questions:
1. You use humor in nearly all aspects of your life. In your family, friendships,
relationships, and in your workplace. Why is that?

Relieves stress when you laugh, pressures of everyday life, remind you of the positives in life to
balance out the negatives, releases endorphins in the brain. Attractive.
What we find funny connects us, whether it’s something traumatic or a comedian or a
coincidence. Shared experience.

2. Describe a time when your use of humor was deemed inappropriate. Maybe you
unintentionally (or intentionally) offended someone with a joke or off-hand comment.
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Dress code policy in school. Female out of policy, spent day with discipline team. 2 students
fought at lunch. 1 brought in with 1st female. Other in hallway. Hallway student came to
classroom and fought previous student again. Out of dress code student had her toe injured
during altercation. G.J. made comment that student would wear her shoes next time. Student told
her parent; parent came to school for apology. Comment meant to reinforce that dress code
policy is there for a reason, so that students can stay in class. Wouldn’t be in the wrong place at
the wrong time. Parents get madder when they know they are in the wrong. G.J. apologized for
being insensitive in the moment. Comment was not meant to be heard by the student.

3. You have a magnetic personality and generally get along with everyone. Have you ever
met someone for the first time who did not seem to get your sense of humor?

Made a sarcastic comment and this person took everything literally. Previous teacher. Didn’t
really seek to engage further. Negates the joke when you have to tell someone that it’s supposed
to be funny.

4. What do you think is the importance of humor in communication?

No balance if there is no humor in communication. Helps people remember things.

Remembering jokes based on punchline. Point of communication is to get message from one
person to another.

5. Do you think there are times or situations when humor is absolutely

unnecessary/inappropriate, or do you think that humor can be found in every type of
situation?

Humor can be found in every situation but shouldn’t be expressed in the moment all the time.
Example: someone falls down the stairs and seriously hurts themselves. Wouldn’t laugh at them
in the moment, but later on would make a joke about it. Saying, “One day we’ll look back on this
and laugh.”
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6. You are a dean of discipline. Your title would suggest that your role would make you an
enemy of sorts for young, rebellious high school-aged students. How do you connect with
them in a way that inspires trust? How does your humor play a role in that?

Interactions that have nothing to do with discipline have a bigger impact on the students.
Connecting/talking with students about hair, nails, lashes, bags, clothes with female students.
Being present in more places than discipline office. At lunch, discipline, sporting events,
homecoming dances. Investing personal time benefits Genesis when having to discipline.
Seen failures where she may joke about them being on their phone, they must love detention.
Student being surprised when actually given them detention for it. Struggles with that. Giving
consequences first and making jokes after.
Seen successes when students get removed from classes. Gets story from teacher, then from
student. Mixed messages. Reiterating the story in a funny way to get to the bottom of the story.

7. Describe a time when you used humor to ease a tense situation. It can be an example
from your relationship, your family, or a friendship.

Brother hastily got married at courthouse. Mother was upset. Exaggerate her sentences by being
dramatic.

8. You typically use humor as a way to make people happy through laughter. Do you know
anyone who does the opposite, uses humor to bring others down?

Teenagers. Baking- term for making fun each other. Trying to get a laughter response from
others around them by making fun of each other. Lady in the main office. Multiple instances
where parent calls for principle and lady in office would say principle was on her phone or
harassing kids.
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She loves humor. Unhealthy coping strategies with humor. Releases feel good emotions. Biggest
focus as a professional to turn it off.

APPENDIX B
FOCUS GROUP NOTES
1. A time when someone’s attempt at humor fell short?
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Meredith: Current boss colonel. Most are serious, no nonsense. Over-sized frat boy. 40’s, newly
divorced. Speaks primarily in movie quotes. Most people don’t get it and are often confused.
Uses humor to try to relate and connect. Usually in a formal setting like meeting.

Jessie: Facility director, male. Inside jokes between him and one other male co-worker.
Sometimes interfered with getting the job done.

Tried using sarcasm with 3rd graders who didn’t understand the jokes. Received emails from
parents about some of her jokes.

Julie: Works in community college. President did intro-to-school year meeting. 2 hour
presentation about himself and his life. Tried to use humor to connect. Presentation had very
little to do with the purpose of the meeting. People in attendance shared humor with each other
about the pointlessness of presentation.

2. Humor with a healing effect.

Julie: Dad with corny jokes. Always trying to ease tension with jokes. Stressed out about trying
to communicate with ex-husband. Talked with boyfriend about it. Used humor to calm her down
and get her to realize things were going to be ok.

Jessie: Master professor. Taught her laughter yoga, fake laughing while doing yoga. Compassion
in the classroom thesis. Taught it to her students. Uncomfortable for some.

Struggled with depression. Watched stand-up comedy (Kevin Hart) to help bring her out of bouts
of depression. Watches comedy to help de-stress.

Meredith: Recommended Ricky Gervais. Really dark humor.

Grandparents aged 90 and 91. Monday night dinners. Grandpa called her wedding a funeral often
(Freudian slips). Very close with Grandpa due to similar dark sense of humor. Noticeable change
in him when he can use humor with Meredith.

3. Favorite comedian and why?

Julie: Not a big fan of comedians/comedy. Can’t handle too much racial humor. Michelle Fox
made her cry laughing talking about women. Stereotyping.
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Meredith: Ricky Gervais. Smart way of talking about complicated issues. Not many comedians
can do that.

Jessie: Kevin Hart laughs at himself. Laugh at their own pain. Eliza Shlesinger. Extreme
metaphors about life.