Humor info

There was a wonderful science fiction story written many years ago by Murray Leinster called "First Contact" which concerned the first contact between an alien race and human beings. Both races took great pains to conceal the location of their home worlds and made contact with a fair amount of anxiety and paranoia about the intentions of the other. All the while the senior diplomats and military were parlaying, he had spent the time with a junior soldier of similar rank telling jokes to each other. The idea that the aliens had the same sense of humor as the earthlings was enough for him.

Using humor in public speaking can be very beneficial, both for the audience and the presenter. A speaker who can effectively use humor to engage and entertain their audience possesses a valuable gift. You will be appreciated for providing heartfelt laughter; laughter that has therapeutic effects on listeners. And you will be remembered, talked about; your reputation as a truly great speaker will be enhanced and spread about.

Actually, new research suggests, humor talent does offer a possible advantage in the contest to proliferate offspring. Humorous men might just be a little bit more attractive to potential mates.

Second, not all perceptions of humor actually produce overt laughter, thus ``tends to produce'' rather than ``produces'' in the fundamental postulate above; this allows for laughter with or without humor and vice versa. So there may be unobservable instances of humor perception, where it is impossible to tell if someone finds something funny or not.

First of all, it�s a truism�as well as true (or at least truthy)�that people are hungry for authenticity in their public figures. And a good sense of humor is the most reliable contemporary signifier of authenticity.

Remember, as the group facilitator you will be setting the tone of the group. If the environment is stuffy and dogmatic, little laughter and divergent thinking will occur. However, if you can make the environment comfortable, flexible, and supportive, the group will cultivate a sense of humor along with a positive learning environment.

Is it necessary to go to comedy school? No, being relaxed, smiling and alert to student needs are good starts to a better sense of humor. The integration of humor into a group session can be a slow process that requires trial and error. Try out jokes and stories ahead of time on family and peers to make sure they are humorous and non-insulting. A "Don Rickles" approach to humor would not be particularly productive for a group environment. Positive humor is evident when groups develop their own identification through nicknames, group history or on-going gags.

When students and teachers were asked what element makes learning effective and exciting, a "sense of humor" was rated high on the list. Shared laughter is a powerful way to reinforce learning.

There is no longer any doubt that your daily mood or frame of mind makes a significant contribution to your health--especially when it persists day after day, year after year. Anything you can do to sustain a more positive, upbeat frame of mind in dealing with the daily hassles and problems in your life contributes to your physical health at the same time that it helps you cope with stress and be more effective on the job. Your sense of humor is one of the most powerful tools you have to make certain that your daily mood and emotional state support good health.

Citing previous research, the scientists speculate that men do appreciate a mate with sense of humor, but that the notion of "sense of humor" means different things to men and women. Some evidence suggests that women like men who produce humor, and consider a man to have a good sense of humor if he produces high-caliber jokes. A man, on the other hand, considers a woman to have a good sense of humor if she laughs at his jokes. "Men may prefer women who signal appreciation of their humor because humor appreciation may signal sexual interest," write Bressler and Balshine.

The movie is sporadically funny in an anarchistic way. But Cho and Penn don't have the needed personality or comic identity to sustain a franchise and their non-drug humor is so crude and scatological that -- to say the least -- it leaves a very bad taste in the mouth.

Note that in Jong's piece there is no evidence of any recognition that while perhaps unfair, male journalist attention to looks is inevitable; worse, both men and women are typically curious about how a woman presents herself. Mitt Romney may well have lost the primaries, in part, because he looked "too perfect" for many voters and his looks were commented upon with regularity. The salient point is that Erica Jong has lost her sense of humor and it shows in her tiresome and uninformative piece.

The limited research on stress-related hormones and humor has shown that laughter reduces at least four neuroendocrine hormones associated with the stress response, including epinephrine, cortisol, dopac, and growth hormone. This is consistent with research showing that various relaxation procedures reduce stress hormones.

It has long been recognized that stress weakens the immune system, leaving you more vulnerable to illness. Only in the mid 1980s, however, did researchers begin to study the impact of humor and laughter on the immune system. The best evidence that humor boosts the immune system comes from studies where immune system measures are taken before and after a particular humorous event--usually a comedy video. But research showing that individuals with a better sense of humor have stronger immune systems is also significant, since it shows the importance (for your health) of making the effort to improve your sense of humor.

In any case, the study's implication that women crave humorous men requires further investigation with more sophisticated humor. "The humor in this study showed a restricted range of quality," Bressler and Balshine admitted. "Examination of the influence of different types of humor . . . would be a valuable addition to this research area.