Biomedical subjects

Louis G Lippman

Publications and source records attributed to Louis G Lippman.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Teasing: for superiority or solidarity?

Humor among friends is typically regarded as a means of strengthening friendships. However, there may be a side of humor that is used to compete rather than bond (R. D. Alexander, 1986; C. R. Gruner, 1997). In the present studies, the participants were asked to imagine that they were sitting with a group of mixed-sex peers. One of the group (a same-sex friend) made a comment about the participant. Different groups of participants were told that the remark did or did not involve teasing. While the participants imagined they were the target of the remark, they rated their emotional reactions as well as their perceived relationship with the teaser and the character traits attributed to the teaser. The outcomes from analyses of variance of perceived competitiveness, emotional responses, and expected social outcomes largely supported superiority perspectives of humor.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Constructing something funny: levels of associative connection in Tom Swifties.

In the present study, redundancy (low, medium, or high association between the adverb and sentence content) and contextual connection (presence vs. absence of a meaning-based connection between the adverb and other information in the sentence) were manipulated systematically in Tom Swifties (single-sentence wordplays in which a pun is based on the adverb at the end of the sentence). Sixty-nine university students provided ratings of each Swifty's humorousness, cleverness, and coherence and of their reactions to each (tendency to smile, laugh, and groan). Added context led to greater perceived coherence. In keeping with optimal level of arousal arising from resolution of incongruity, an inverted-U redundancy effect was obtained for all scales except "groan." The authors suggest that a social setting is a required but not a sufficient condition for a pun to evoke a groan. It also requires material of greater length that includes some build-up, as found in a fable or shaggy-dog story.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Puns and near puns in fables.

In previous research, (L. G. Lippman, K. Bennington, & I. L. Sucharski, 2002; L. G. Lippman & M. L. Dunn, 2000; L. G. Lippman, I. L. Sucharski, & K. Bennington, 2001), the body of the material (one-liners or fables) had been manipulated to increase its contextual connection to the final word or sentence. In the present study, the body of 6 fables remained constant, and only 1-3 words of the final sentences were manipulated. The pun version had dual connections to the story. Final sentences of 2 other versions had the same meaning, only a single connection to the story, but 1 was related acoustically to the pun. University students, instructed to pretend that someone was telling them each story, rated the fables and their reactions. Compared with its acoustic counterpart, the pun version provoked more reported humor reactions. For the nonpun versions, the one related acoustically to the pun yielded reliably greater reported inclination to smile, suggesting that participants may have inferred or created a pun. The groan, as a communication device, is discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Contextual connections to puns in Tom Swifties.

Previous research conducted with short fables was replicated in this study with Swifties in which sentence length and presence of a pun were controlled. Of the 24 one-sentence word plays shown to each participant, half had an enhanced contextual connection that was predicted to increase appropriateness and detection of the incongruity, resulting in heightened perceived cleverness and humor. Results supported predictions, showing especially strong enhancement of perceived cleverness. The authors suggest that this outcome could be generalized to other forms of word play.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Perceived attributes of health-promoting laughter: a cross-generational comparison.

A small but growing body of empirical data support the popular belief that laughter benefits health. However, there are many varieties of laughter and no reason to assume all varieties should be, or would be, perceived as equally beneficial. The authors examined which types of laughter and which characteristics of laughter people associate with health and whether there are generational differences in this perception. Young adults and older participants rated 12 laughter terms (e.g., chuckle, giggle, belly laugh) on their contribution to health and assessed various aspects of each laughter type on 11 scales. The young adults characterized health-promoting laughter as strong, active, uninhibited, and involving movement; the older participants characterized it as socially appropriate. Both groups associated health-promoting laughter strongly with positive emotion and absence of malice. Implications for placebo effects in laughter interventions are discussed. Differences between humor and laughter and among the proposed mechanisms by which they affect health are clarified.

Affect↗