Humor and Persuasion

How effective is humor in persuasion? In this paper I will explore why humor is a very effective form of persuasion. If over done it won’t work.


In my every day presentations they often include humor as a relief, an attention grabber and a segue. This keeps the audience engaged and entertained. According to Enzine Articles , “Humor disarms an audience, making them more likely to open up to you. Once your prospects feel comfortable with you, they will be more in tune to your message and more likely to remain attentive”. Presentations are more likely to be listened to when the audience is drawn to the topic through humor. Cartoons seem to be very effective. It creates an atmosphere with the audience that things aren’t as serious as the topic suggests. It creates a break from the intense seriousness of the topic. It give the audience a little laughter and they can relate to the speaker as one of them. “When you leverage the element of humor, any message coming from you receives more weight than on that comes from someone who has not created the audience rapport you have achieved. All People’s minds wander from time t time. Humor not only reels them back in but it also reenergizes their soul”.

People expect to be entertained when they are being addressed. They want the message to be given to them in a form that they can understand. Humor draws the audience in to the speaker and makes them more creditable. Once the audience believes in what the speaker is telling them they can be persuaded to the side the message is giving them. The speaker is more believable and likable when humor is applied.

Cartoons are an effective form of humor. Far Side cartoons, Dilbert cartoons and other well known cartoons. They lift a very boring topic to something fun and worth listening. Even after lunch.

The speaker has to grab his audience in order to get their attention and to persuade them to his/her way of thinking. If the cartoon is a little off color the audience will not like you as a speaker and the message you are attempting to send will be lost.

• Humor during your Presentation.
• Eases Emotional Pain
• Creates a Positive Environment
• Generates Interest in what you are saying
• Helps your listeners sense your goodwill
• Increases Participation
• Make difficult topics more accessible
• Bring needed entertainment
• Strike an emotional chord

Humor will help you do the following with your audience..

•  Ease their tension
• Put them in a good mood
• Disarm them
• Maintain their attention
• Enhance their receptivity

Humor will help you:

• Increase your likeability
• Establish rapport
• Increase people’s trust in you
• Enhance our image
• Strengthen your relationships
• Boost your own confidence” (Increasing Persuasion with Humor 11-08-2009)

There are in some cases where humor would not be appropriate. A case where there was a loss of life would be an example. Funeral homes would not find the use of humor to be something that they would want to use to encourage people to use their services. Humor in this case would lead the target audience to believe that they weren’t sensitive to their needs. There is nothing funny about the death of a loved one. Serving in the armed forces would be another instance where the use of humor would not be appropriate. Leaving your home and family behind is a very stressful situation and there is a chance that returning alive and just as you left your home is slim. This would be no joking matter. Using humor in these situations would turn an audience off and your message would not be well received. It could have the exact opposite effect. The audience that say your message would in turn talk to their friends and associates and relay that message and therefore have a larger negative impact than what was initially planned.

Using the Bait and Switch in a funeral home situation would be very effective but highly unethical. Luring the grieving family in and pitching your products under the guise that you are there to help them while knowing you are going to charge them more at their weakest moment is horrible. You would not use humor in any aspect of this situation when applying this technique.

Another technique would be the foot in the door. You have the most vulnerable of people at your door looking for help and compassion. This is a prime area to sell this person more than what they were wanting because that’s what their loved one would have wanted. Unfortunately when my father passed away the funeral home we were dealing with tried this technique with us. They had the unfortunate experience of dealing with one of my brothers with the least amount of patience who immediately told them his rights and how they would be reported to the proper authorities in this matter. The person was fired the next week.

Humor in the proper situation is a welcome relief and can be an added tool to make the speakers credibility more valuable. It has a proper place and time to be used. In very serious situations the use of humor to persuade an audience must be evaluated and used in a very limited situation. If use incorrectly, it can backfire on the speaker and they would not want to have any dealings with this person or their company.


References

http://www.jstor.org/pss/2786391

http://ezinearticles.com/?Increasing-Persuasion-with-Humor&id=259310

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11506049

http://ezinearticles.com/?Thats-Funny---The-Use-of-Humor-in-Persuasion&id=1222182