Is It You or Is It Me? Contrasting Effects of Ridicule Targeting Other People Versus the Self

Janes, Leslie M.; Olson, James M.

doi:10.1037/e676422011-004

Cited by 6 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Recurring self-deprecating statements might undermine a leader's sense of power and perceived confidence in the eyes of followers, or even be an indication of the leader's well-being ( Frewen et al, 2008). In addition, repeated self-deprecating statements may be perceived as insincere, as if they were being used in a manipulative way to elicit sympathetic responses ( Janes and Olson, 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“It's not you, it's me”: transformational leadership and self‐deprecating humor

Hoption

Barling

Turner

2013

Leadership &Amp; Organization Development Journal

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Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to investigate leaders' use of humor as an expression of how they value themselves relative to others. The paper suggests that humor can minimize or exacerbate the status differences between leaders and followers. The paper hypothesizes that leaders' use of self-or in-group-deprecating humor would be positively associated with ratings of transformational leadership as they minimize those distinctions, whereas leaders' use of aggressive humor would be negatively associated with ratings of transformational leadership because it exacerbates status distinctions. Design/methodology/approach -A total of 155 undergraduates (58 males, 97 females; M age ¼ 20 years, SD ¼ 1.31) were assigned randomly to one of four conditions, each depicting a different type of humor in a leader's speech. Findings -Leaders using self-deprecating humor were rated higher on individualized consideration (a factor of transformational leadership) than those that used aggressive humor.Research limitations/implications -The authors encourage future field research on the role of humor as an expression of leaders' self-versus other-orientation. Originality/value -Humor and work might seem inconsistent, but this study demonstrates how leadership can use humor to improve leader-follower relationships. Furthermore, it contributes to our understanding of self-deprecating humor which has received scant attention relative to other forms of humor.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“It's not you, it's me”: transformational leadership and self‐deprecating humor

Hoption

Barling

Turner

2013

Leadership &Amp; Organization Development Journal

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“…While there is no single widely accepted definition of humor, for our purposes we define humor as any form of communication that is intended to elicit laughter (Martin 2007;Zillmann 1983). Though many types of humor have the potential to influence interpersonal outcomes (e. g. Martin and Kuiper 2007), the literature exploring humor in intergroup contexts has focused almost exclusively on humor that targets a person or persons based on their membership in a social group and, more specifically, disparagement humor, defined as humor that denigrates or maligns social groups (e. g. Cundall 2012;Martin 2007), whether playful or malicious (e. g. Janes and Olson 2010).…”

Section: Humor and Intergroup Perceptionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cracking wise to break the ice: The potential for racial humor to ease interracial anxiety

Borgella

Howard

Maddox

2019

Humor

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We explore the idea that humor focused on social group disparities can be a viable tool to reduce some of the negative outcomes associated with interracial interactions. These interactions are crucial in promoting common understanding about the causes of social, educational, and economic disparities and crafting solutions to redress them. However, investigations have demonstrated that interracial interactions can be emotionally and cognitively taxing, and for these reasons are often avoided. When not avoided, these interactions often result in negative outcomes. Anxiety has been identified as a key factor in these outcomes as majority group members cope with concerns over appearing biased and minority group members cope with concerns over being discriminated against. Humor may be able to alleviate anxiety that contributes to negative outcomes associated with intergroup dialogue. To explore this claim, we first review the literature on interracial interactions and the role of anxiety in shaping them. We then discuss investigations exploring the impact of group-related humor, specifically disparagement humor, on intergroup perceptions. Finally, we draw from both literatures to consider factors that might determine race-related humor’s potential to facilitate positive interracial dialogue through anxiety reduction. We conclude with some possible areas for further research.

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“…In doing so, individuals are also likely to target themselves adopting, thus, a SD humor style. SD humor occurs when individuals gently poke fun at their own faults and foibles and do not take themselves overly seriously (Martin et al, 2003;Janes and Olson, 2010), maintaining however their sense of self-acceptance (Vaillant, 1977). In some cases, existing literature confuses SD humor with self-defeating humor (Owens, 1994;Unal, 2014).…”

Section: Literature Review Sd Humormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lundy et al (1998) showed that males who used SD humor were rated as more desirable from females but only when individuals were perceived as physically attractive. Last, Janes and Olson (2010) indicated that the use of SD humor by professors may result in enhanced students' creativity. Generally, followers tend to attribute to leaders who make humorous comments about several traits of themselves.…”

Section: Literature Review Sd Humormentioning

confidence: 99%

The relationship between leader self-deprecating humor and perceived effectiveness

Gkorezis

Bellou

2016

LODJ

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Purpose Recent years have seen an increasing interest in leader’s use of humor among organizational scholars. In this regard, leader positive humor has been shown to be related to leader effectiveness. However, to date there is limited theoretical and empirical attention regarding the relationship between self-deprecating humor in particular and leadership effectiveness. As such, the purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of leader’s self-deprecating humor on follower’s perceptions of leader effectiveness. In doing so, the authors also encompassed trust in leader as a mediator. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from three different samples. The authors examined the hypotheses using hierarchical regression, bootstrapping analysis and Sobel test. Findings Results produced consistent evidence that the use of self-deprecating humor by the leader positively affects his/her perceived effectiveness and that this relationship is partially mediated by trust in leader. Research limitations/implications A main limitation of the present research relates to its cross-sectional design that cannot infer causality. In addition, data were gathered from a single source. As such, this may raise the possibility of common method bias. Originality/value The present paper contributes to the limited theoretical and empirical organizational research regarding the role of leader self-deprecating humor. More specifically, this is the first study, to the best of authors’ knowledge that links this type of humor to his/her effectiveness.

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Is It You or Is It Me? Contrasting Effects of Ridicule Targeting Other People Versus the Self

Cited by 6 publications

References 23 publications

“It's not you, it's me”: transformational leadership and self‐deprecating humor

“It's not you, it's me”: transformational leadership and self‐deprecating humor

Cracking wise to break the ice: The potential for racial humor to ease interracial anxiety

The relationship between leader self-deprecating humor and perceived effectiveness

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