Humor and Work: Applications of Joking Behavior to Management

Duncan, W. Jack; Smeltzer, Larry R.; Leap, Terry L.

doi:10.1177/014920639001600203

Cited by 140 publications

(113 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Do we need more theoretical models of humor, as Hummasi et al (1994) contended? Whatever trends rise to ascendancy, it is likely that the study of humor will continue under a variety of conditions and humor findings will be applied in a variety of settings: management in the workplace (Duncan, Smeltzer & Leap, 1990), education (Kaplan & Pascoe, 1977), and advertising (Lammers, 1990). Whether humor becomes a sensitive reflector of social change remains to be seen.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender, object, and humor

Jackson

1997

Curr Psychol

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender, object, and humor

Jackson

1997

Curr Psychol

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“…Sexism communicated through humor thus creates an interpretative ambiguity that allows it to avert the standard challenges or opposition that non-humorous sexist communications likely would incur (Bill and Naus 1992;Johnson 1990). In fact, research on sexist humor in the workplace suggests that it often is difficult to distinguish between joking that naturally and appropriately occurs during the course of work interactions and joking that constitutes sexual harassment (Baird et al 1995;Duncan et al 1990;Hemmasi et al 1994). …”

Section: Sexist Humor As An Expression Of Sexismmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Did He Mean by that? Humor Decreases Attributions of Sexism and Confrontation of Sexist Jokes

2016

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Sexist humor may be more difficult to confront than serious expressions of sexism because humor disguises the biased nature of the remark. The present research investigated whether delivering a sexist remark as a joke, compared to a serious statement, tempered perceptions that the speaker was sexist which, in turn, made women less likely to confront. Using a computer-mediated instant messaging paradigm, women were randomly assigned to receive the same sexist remark phrased either in a serious manner or as a joke. We recorded how women actually responded to the sexist remark and coded for confrontation. In Experiments 1 (195 women) and 2 (134 women) we found that humor decreased perceptions that the speaker was sexist. Furthermore, as perceptions that the perpetrator was sexist decreased, women's confronting also decreased. Experiment 2 demonstrated an additional consequence of reducing the perceived sexism of the perpetrator-it increased tolerance of sexist behavior perpetrated against an individual woman and sexual harassment more generally. Interestingly, the indirect effects only appeared when women at least moderately endorsed hostile sexism. For hostile sexists, failure to identify sexism reduced confrontation and increased tolerance for sexual harassment and sexist behavior. Contrary to popular belief, humor can actually make sexist messages more dangerous and difficult to confront than serious remarks.A woman bank teller accidentally short-circuited a computer system that monitored the bank's transactions. After this incident, many employees told jokes about women's alleged inferiority with technology. At a subsequent meeting, a woman secretary accidentally unplugged a slide projector with her foot as she walked by. A man supervisor joked to his colleagues about a Bwoman's touch,^which elicited laughter from other supervisors (Kahn 1989). Incidents like theseplayful, demeaning, group-based comments cloaked in humor-are among the most common ways that women experience sexism in the workplace and other settings (Pryor 1995).Sexist humor has been defined as humor that denigrates, demeans, stereotypes, oppresses, or objectifies women (Bemiller and Schneider 2010;Greenwood and Isbell 2002;LaFrance and Woodzicka 1998). How should women respond to such playful, often funny, but nonetheless belittling instances of sexist humor? In the present research we contend that sexist humor presents a unique challenge for people who may wish to engage in confrontation because the meaning of humorous sexist remarks, and the intentions of their owners, are often unclear. Accordingly, we investigated the degree to which delivering a sexist remark as a joke, compared to a serious statement, affected women's perception that the perpetrator was sexist, the likelihood that they would confront the sexist remark, and their tolerance of a subsequently encountered incident of sexist behavior, as well as their tolerance of sexual harassment, a more general, normative pattern of gender discrimination against women (Equal Employment

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“…Tai kuria produktyvesnius santykius tarp darbuotojų ir vadovų ir skatina kūrybiškesnį mąstymą ir problemų sprendimą (p. 360). Remiantis tyrimų apie humorą darbo vietoje rezultatais (Duncan, 1990;Gumauskaitė, 2011), pastebima, kad darbuotojai humorą vertina kaip svarbų savo darbo elementą, kuris daro įtaką teigiamam bendravimo atmosferos kūrimui. Be to, humoras vertinamas kaip priemonė nuotoliui tarp kliento ir darbuotojo sumažinti.…”

Section: įVadasunclassified

Humoras socialinio darbo praktikoje: socialinių darbuotojų patirties analizė

Vaitulionytė¹,

Naujanienė²

2016

SWEM

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Humor and Work: Applications of Joking Behavior to Management

Cited by 140 publications

References 46 publications

Gender, object, and humor

Gender, object, and humor

What Did He Mean by that? Humor Decreases Attributions of Sexism and Confrontation of Sexist Jokes

Humoras socialinio darbo praktikoje: socialinių darbuotojų patirties analizė

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