As we continue venturing into the often-complicated effects of political humor, I anticipate that we’ll have an increasingly clearer understanding of how viewers respond to political humor.
Josh Compton
A few years ago, I surveyed political humor effects research for a chapter in Laughing Matters: Humor and American Politics in the Media Age, a collection of political humor writings edited by Jody Baumgartner and Jonathan Morris. My review looked at scholarship through 2006, examining various forms of political humor. This current essay picks up where the first left off, taking a closer look at political humor effects research published since 2006 and comparing the most recent political humor scholarship with extant findings. I review observations by political commentators and journalists about the role of humor in the 2008 presidential election campaign. Finally, I propose future areas of inquiry for political humor effects research, including political jokes told along social networks via word-of-mouth communication (WOMC). This review of political effects research reveals that voters are doing more than laughing when they encounter political humor, and empirical support for these effects is a valuable resource for political scholars and practitioners.
Compton, J. (2009, June). When voters laugh: Reviewing research of political humor effects [paper presentation].International Society for Humor Studies, Long Beach, CA, United States.
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