Humor as a Double-Edged Sword: Four Functions of Humor in Communication

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 o f 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.

Looping out loud: A multimodal analysis of humour on Vine

“…The second research question is based on the tenet that discourse is not only informing, but also performing, since it can have consequences beyond the transmission of information (Potter et al 1993;Potter 1997;Lamerichs & te Molder 2003). Similarly, humour has functions that go beyond the elicitation of laughter, smile, or good humour (Meyer 2000). In other words, the second research question could be rephrased as "What is humour doing?"…”

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“…The gap found in relation to humour in peer education perspectives could be attributed to the general failing of humour research to understand those instances of humour that are unrehearsed, hidden or embedded in informal social situations (Meyer 2000). According to Meyer (2000), the four functions of humour are identification, clarification, differentiation and enforcement and each function can correlate with a particular theory of humour.…”

“…This ambiguity is what Meyer (2000:329) characterises as the "double-edged sword" of humour which speaks to the relationship between social context, audience, speaker and conversation content. Depending on these factors, humour can act as a unifier, drawing people together and fostering comfortable relations between participants, or alternatively it can serve to divide the audience from the presenter and create a tense environment which does not encourage or facilitate effective discussions (Meyer 2000).…”

“…Simultaneously, humour can alienate and push people away from the discussion if the humour is viewed as being out of place, inappropriate or unnecessary. Specifically, Meyer (2000) states that humour that lets the presenter (in this case a peer educator or their peer) show they can laugh at themselves and with others can increase accessibility to the peer group. In turn, this allows them to invoke "an issue very familiar to the audience, as well as placing the target of humour in a position of sharing meaning or perspective on that issue" (Meyer 2000: 319).…”

“…According to Meyer (2000), the four functions of humour are identification, clarification, differentiation and enforcement and each function can correlate with a particular theory of humour. For Meyer (2000: 317) humour in social situations (such as informal conversations) can act as "a 'lubricant' and an 'abrasive'... [as it can] smooth the way and integrate a [speaker] into a greater level of credibility within a group, but it can also ruffle feathers and cause social friction and conflict".…”