Daren Bradshaw - Blog #5

Humor in Every Day Life

 

For my last blog I was really unsure what to write about to be honest. After contemplating for a while I decided to do another on humor, except this time it was not about my favorite comedian it is simply about humor as it relates to life. Humor is thought to be a fundamental, intrinsic part of human nature, experienced in nearly every type of interpersonal relationship and having a far-reaching impact on daily life (Lefcourt, 2001; Martin, 2007). Having said that, it seems as though it would be easy to relate it to everyday life in more ways than one. Humor helps in times of stress and anxiety by lightening the mood of different situations. Humor can bring individual together in times of conflict or just difficult times in general. For example, as discussed in class, the nonviolent movement used humor to combat its violent opponent time and time again. Not only was the group successful in achieving their goal they simultaneously made the aggressive bad guys look flat out silly. The use of humor made it hard for their opponents to even reply much less retaliate. I decided to do a survey amongst family and friends asking them if they had ever used humor to lighten the mood of two different types of situations. Of the 8 people that I surveyed all but one had said they used humor to combat two totally different situations. Most of them even stated that they reacted with humor without even thinking about it. This just goes to show that this is something that comes natural to a lot of people. Sure everyone might have a different sense of humor but in the end it always seems to have a positive result on whatever the situation is at hand.

 

People Surveyed

Alex Solis, Phil Bradshaw, Joe Bider, Debbie Bradshaw, Rachael Goebel, Sam Price, Justin Woodall and Patrick Turner.

 

References

Lefcourt, H. M. (2001). Humor: The psychology of living buoyantly. New York, NY: Kluwer Academic. 10.1007/978-1-4615-4287-2

Martin, R. (2007). The psychology of humor: An integrative approach. New York, NY: Academic Press.

Lauren Duncan Blog #5 Bisociation-Displacement Model

Lauren Duncan

Bisociation-Displacement Model Applied To My Personal Life 

Marianella Sclavi states, “I suggest the theoretical underpinnings of a model for approaching conflict in which displacements and surprise, playfulness, humor and “punch lines” can serve to reframe issues and open up avenues for consensus building and resolution.”  The bisociation-displacement model can be applied to the conflicts that take place in our personal lives today. This model serves as a way to determine others views and opinions that arise in conflicts found between you and the other party. It also aids as a way to find humor in even the hardest of circumstances. In fact, Gregory Bateson states, “Establishing a play frame promotes a congenial atmosphere of happiness, lightness, even laughter.” An example of a conflict that has taken place in my own life that is a replication of this is a fight that took place between my best friend and I. She went to college at Texas Tech and recently graduated this past December. Time flew by and I never made it to Tech to visit her, this obviously making her very upset as she’d been to College Station twice to see me. Long story short, we experienced adversarial and collaborative frames throughout the process. I took the collaborating stand and wanted Megan to eventually adopt to that idea as well. It took time and consideration, but she finally agreed to look past it and move on with our friendship. When adopting this model in the conflict we experienced, we found that all emotions are good, even those that may appear to be negative at first glance. Whether it was anger or agreeing on something, we found that emotions on both spectrums aided in the evaluation of our conflict. In addition, accepting displacement in this instance (for me this was accepting that I’d made a mistake by never visiting her, and for her it was learning to forgive me) actually helped us each see eye to eye and come to a resolution. As you can see, the bisociation-displacement model is truly something we can learn a lot from and utilize in our personal lives.

Reference:

Sclavi, M. (2008), The Role of Play and Humor in Creative Conflict Management. Negotiation Journal, 24: 157–180. 

Daren Bradshaw Blog #4

Humor- Favorite Comedian

By: Daren Bradshaw

 

In class this week we discussed humor and its implications on the work environment as well how humor can be used in a variety of ways in a positive way. For this blog we decided to do it on our favorite comedian given that when it comes to humor, comedians know it best. For my favorite comedian I decided to use Eddie Murphy. I know most of the student in the class are probably too young to remember Eddie Murphy raw. However, growing up this is what I knew as stand-up comedy. Eddie Murphy used a humor to relate to everyday life situations. What made it so funny is that the reference to everyday life were accurate for the most part and though the humor side of it was funny it was also very true. There are many different types of humor, all of which have their own time and place for. Having said that all forms of humor are not necessarily a good thing in certain situations. For example, in conflict you do not want to use aggressive and self-defeating humor as these could cause the conflict to escalate. Humor should be used to lighten the mood especially in the midst of conflict. If you were to be aggressive or talk down to another employee when a conflict already exists, you will do nothing but make the situation worse. Instead one should use affiliative or self-enhancing humor in these types of situations. Rarely is aggressive anything good when it comes to resolving a conflict that exists.

References

Foster, Dean. “The Serious Business of BEING FUNNY Across Cultures.” Toastmaster. Feb2016, Vol. 82 Issue 2, p16-19. 4p.

Campbell, Lorne, and Sarah Moroz. "Humour Use Between Spouses and Positive and Negative Interpersonal Behaviours During Conflict." Europe’s Journal of Psychology Eur. J. Psychol.10.3 (2014): 532-42. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.

 

Blog #5: Humor

I don't watch much comedy, but when I do, Chelsea Handler is my favorite.  Her type of humor is so aggressive and fearless that you can't help but to laugh.  Chelsea has a very carefree attitude when it comes to her comedy.  She uses aggressive humor to make fun of fellow celebrities and it is very clear that she does not care what other people think.  The reason I love Chelsea Handler so much is because her jokes fall under a more sarcastic humor that makes you tilt your head a little bit before you actually get it.  Other comedians may use very cheesy jokes to get their point across, but that has never been Chelsea's style.  She typically sticks to the form of humor that we learned in class, something that makes you take a step back and look from a different perspective.  From Valdosta University, Eric Romero says that "When aggressive humor is utilized to ridicule and manipulate in a malicious manner, it will likely undermine relationships."  Aggressive humor is the most negative out of the four types.  Chelsea has such a close knit group of best friends who are fellow comedians, that she feels no guilt making extremely negative remarks about people because in the end, it is all for fun.  I surveyed 7 of my close friends and after explaining to them what each type of humor means, I had them tell me which style they find the most amusing.  They all said either aggression or self defeating, but for the same reasons.  These two types are the funniest if and only if the comedian is obviously very self confident and does not feel an obligation to please people.

References:
Romero, Eric J. "The Use of Humor in the Workplace." Academy of Management Perspectives 20.2 (2006): 58-69. 2006. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.

People surveyed: Taylor Benton, Bryce Barham, Samantha Savage, Maty Cumberland, Amanda Barletta, Kailey Burrows, Kelli Franks

Favorite Comedian (Blog #5)

When it comes to comedians, I don’t have the slightest problem picking my favorite. Dave Chappelle has shown me a side of comedy that doesn’t need to be fully based on inappropriate jokes in order to get people to laugh. I love Dave Chappelle’s work because not only does he make his audience laugh, but he also wants them to think beyond the surface. He wants them to understand his underlying message. Immanuel Kant, a German Philosopher, described humor as "...the talent of being able to put oneself at will into a certain frame of mind in which everything is judged in unusual (even opposite) ways, yet in accordance with particular principles of reason that characterize this frame of mind". I believe that Dave Chappelle possess this talent by getting his audience to think about political and social issues using his comedy. While he still gets a laugh out of everyone, the sketches he does will stick with people and they could possibly have been shown a new view by watching his comedy. In his sketch titled “Black Bush”, he combines president Bush with a stereotypical African-American. Chappelle does an excellent job at being absurd in this sketch by highlighting what many Americans were thinking, as well as other countries, when Bush wanted to go to war with Iraq. Chappelle made Black Bush incongruous by making him vulgar and African American. At this time there had yet to be a black president, let alone a vulgar one, so this was not congruent with how Americans envisioned their presidents. With that being said, I feel that Dave Chappelle does a great job using humor.

Blog #5 Humor by Tyler Roden

Humor- Favorite Comedian

By: Tyler Roden

In class we learned that humor is a great way to manage conflict in an office setting and in our everyday lives. Certain types of humor can be used in a positive way to manage the conflict and others “can be used in a negative fashion; for instance, more aggressive forms of teasing – such as ridicule, intimidation, or manipulation – may be used in an attempt to discredit the partner’s arguments or feelings.” (Campbell 533) I interviewed Heather Roden, the former Director of Day Surgery at Scott & White Hospital, about how she felt about using humor to diffuse conflicts when she was in her leadership position and she said “I feel that there is a time and place to use humor. I think it really just depends on the circumstances, sometimes humor can be utilized and other times humor could make it seem that you do not understand the seriousness of the situation.” (Roden) 

There are four different types of humor: affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive, and self-defeating. Affiliative and self-enhancing are the best types to use and aggressive and self-defeating are the worst to use to manage conflicts. My favorite comedian is John Mulaney, if I had to put his comedic style into one type of humor it would probably be self-defeating. Mulaney often makes himself the butt of most of his jokes. Mulaney often makes fun of his own stature and awkwardness. If he was in a position of power his humor might help him manage conflicts but if he was not in power his humor might discredit himself or his work. 

References:

Roden, Heather. Personal Interview. 10 April 2016.

Campbell, Lorne, and Sarah Moroz. "Humour Use Between Spouses and Positive and Negative Interpersonal Behaviours During Conflict." Europe’s Journal of Psychology Eur. J. Psychol.10.3 (2014): 532-42. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.

Lauren Duncan - Humor Blog #4

Lauren Duncan

Humor - Favorite Comedian

In an article written titled Use of Humor as a Coping Mechanism Psychological Adjustment, and Social Interaction two researchers state, "In contemporary society the world over, humor and laughter are frequently presumed to be means people can use to cope with life's difficulties. One of my all time favorite comedians that embodies this idea is Kevin Hart. He is well known by people all around the world, and at best it can be said that he is someone who can truly make you laugh and feel good inside. Not only is Kevin a comedian, he has starred in many popular movies throughout the years. For instance, you may have seen him in "The Wedding Ringer" or "Ride Along." In analyzing Kevin Hart, I have realized that he matches up with many of the concepts we are currently learning in class. I believe Kevin represents both affiliative and aggressive humor roles. In many of his shows, he is strictly attempting to make the crowd laugh to the point of tears, however many critics can claim that he can be quite aggressive and crude from time to time. I truly believe that the styles of humor that he enacts depend on the audience he is performing for and what he believes is appropriate for that particular crowd. In addition, he often uses humor to solve conflicts that arrive in his own personal life. I've often thought that maybe his humor helps not only his audience, but it also helps him cope with the stress he personally endures in life. Kevin Hart is a comedian who truly embodies the idea of helping people cope with the difficulties that we are faced with, and for that, he is my all time favorite comedian.

Nezlek, John B. and Peter Derks. "Use of humor as a coping mechanism, psychological adjustment, and social interaction" Humor - International Journal of Humor Research, 14.4 (2006): 395-413. Retrieved 11 Apr. 2016

Blog #5: Favorite Comedians

Blog #5: Humor

My favorite comedian right now is Amy Schumer. I like her use of aggressive and self-defeating humor, and although these two types of humor are sometimes found to be negative, I enjoy stand-up that pulls from these humor categories. Amy is an extremely popular comedian right now, especially after her movie Trainwreck, but even though she is really popular she does get some heat from people who do not like her rather vulgar jokes that are shown through aggressive and self-defeating humor. As much as I want to argue with those who don’t like her, I decided to take a step back, and remove my bias of liking her as a comedian, and see what does go wrong with aggressive and self-defeating humor (when it’s not making you cry from laughing). In one article I read, it brings up the point about when a significant other uses these two more negative types of humor, it can put a strain on their relationship and affect the other person. When I thought about this personally, I did realize that this type of humor can really come off offensive and cruel, and even though I think it is funny when Amy Schumer uses it, if my boyfriend chose to, I would be taken aback. They go on to say that their study on the negative types of humor, “…indicated that individuals who reported using more aggressive humor were more likely to have partners who were embarrassed by them.” (Masui, 2016) I would never want to embarrass my significant other through my humor, because I think humor is a trait that a lot of people fall in love with about a person, it would be a shame for that to be a downfall in a relationship. Not only has my research shown me that these two types of negative humor causes a rift in romantic relationships, it can also cause issues personally, “a detrimental effect on well-being when a maladaptive style (self-defeating, aggressive) was higher”. (Maiolino, 2016) Knowing that these types of humor can affect my well-being is a big concern. I don’t think I will stop enjoying Amy Schumer’s work, but knowing these studies and being more aware how humor effects your life on a wider scale imagined will be helpful.

I also decided that the Humor blog would be a good opportunity to interview a leader. I chose to interview one of the officers in my women’s organization. I chose Lynsey because I find her quite humorous but she is also a powerful leader for the group of women in my organization. We discussed what category of humor she relates with and if she found that type of humor was positive in her leadership role. I felt her answer nicely represented the flip side of what I have discussed earlier in my blog, the positive side of humor and how it can help us in our daily lives. Her answer was as followed:

“I think that I would identify with the self-enhancing category of humor. I like to use the hardships that us college students go through every day to lighten the mood at serious meetings. We are all busy, struggling with schedules and classes, and juggling school and social lives, I find it something that we all have in common that we can turn into a joke that we can laugh about. I think it really helps with bonding, when girls in our organization can connect over something stressful in their life through joking about it. I like to use this style as a leader, and be a help to the girls to make them laugh and de-stress.”

Work Cited:

Maiolino, Nadia, and Nick Kuiper. “Examining the Impact of A Brief Humor Exercise on Psychological Well-Being.” Translational Issues in Psychological Science 2.1 (2016): 4-13. PsychINFO. Web. 10 Apr. 2016

Masui, Keita, and Mitsuhiro Ura. “Aggressive Humor Style and Psychopathy: Moderating Effects of Childhood Socioeconomic Status.” Translational Issues in Psychological Science 2.1 (2016): 4-13. PsychINFO. Web. 10 Apr. 2016