All joking aside: A serious investigation into the persuasive effect of funny social issue messages

Communication Monographs

Volumn 74, Issue 1, 2007, Pages 29-54

  Nabi, Robin L ^a   Moyer Gusé, Emily ^a   Byrne, Sahara ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

Author keywords

Counterargument; Discounting; Humor; Message Processing; Persuasion

Indexed keywords

EID: 33847360553     PISSN: 03637751     EISSN: 14795787     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/03637750701196896     Document Type: Review

References (54)

1. Alden, D. L., Mukherjee, A., & Hoyer, W. D. (2000). The effects of incongruity, surprise, and positive moderators on perceived humor in television advertising. Journal of Advertising, 29(2), 1-15.
2. Bohner, G., & Weinerth, T. (2001). Negative affect can increase or decrease message scrutiny: The affect interpretation hypothesis. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 1417-1428.
3. Bollen, K. A. (1986). Sample size and Bentler and Bonett's nonnormed fit index. Psychometrika, 51, 375-377.
4. Brown, D., & Bryant, J. (1983). Humor in the mass media. In P. E. McGhee & J. H. Goldstein (Eds.), Handbook of humor research (pp. 143-172). New York: Springer-Verlag.
5. Browne, M. W., & Cudeck, R. (1993). Alternative ways of assessing model fit. In K. A. Bollen & J. S. Long (Eds.), Testing structural equation models (pp. 136-162). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
6. Chaiken, S. (1980). Heuristic versus systematic information processing and the use of source versus message cues in persuasion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 752-766.
7. Chaiken, S. (1987). The heuristic model of persuasion. In M. P. Zanna, J. M. Olson, & C. P. Herman (Eds.), Social influence: The Ontario symposium (Vol. 5, pp. 3-39). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
8. Chattopadhyay, A., & Basu, K. (1990). Humor in advertising: The moderating role of prior brand evaluation. Journal of Marketing Research, 27, 466-476.
9. Cline, T. W., & Kellaris, J. J. (1999). The joint impact of humor and argument strength in a print advertising context: A case for weaker arguments. Psychology and Marketing, 16, 69-86.
10. Cooper, E., & Jahoda, M. (1947). The evasion of propaganda. Journal of Psychology, 23, 15-25.
11. Duncan, C. P., & Nelson, J. E. (1985). Effects of humor in a radio advertising experiment. Journal of Advertising, 14(2), 33-40.
12. Eveland, W. P. (2001). The cognitive mediation model of learning from the news: Evidence from nonelection, off-year election, and presidential election contexts. Communication Research, 28, 571-601.
13. Eveland, W. P., & Dunwoody, S. (2002). An investigation of elaboration and selective scanning as mediators of learning from the Web versus print. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 46, 34-53.
14. Fabrigar, L. R., Priester, J. R., Petty, R. E., & Wegener, D. T. (1998). The impact of attitude accessibility on elaboration of persuasive messages. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 339-352.
15. Garcia, L. T., & Griffitt, W. (1978). Impact of testimonial evidence as a function of witness characteristics. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 11, 37-40.
16. Goldstein, J. H. (1976). Theoretical notes on humor. Journal of Communication, 26, 104-112.
17. Green, M. C., & Brock, T. C. (2000). The role of transportation in the persuasiveness of public narratives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 701-721.
18. Griffin, R. J., Neuwirth, K., Giese, J., & Dunwoody, S. (2002). Linking the heuristic-systematic model and depth of processing. Communication Research, 29, 705-732.
19. Grote, B., & Cvetkovich, G. (1972). Humor appreciation and issue involvement. Psychonomic Science, 27, 199-200.
20. Gruner, C. R. (1978). Understanding laughter: The workings of wit and humor. Chicago: Nelson-Hall.
21. Gruner, C. R. (1987). Note on editorial satire and persuasion. Psychological Reports, 60, 884-886.
22. Hair, J. R., Anderson, R. E., Tatham, R. L., & Black, W. C. (1998). Multivariate data analysis (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
23. Hollander, B. (2005). Late-Night learning: Do entertainment programs increase political campaign knowledge for young viewers? Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 49, 402-415.
24. Jorskog, K., & Sorbom, D. (1989). LISREL 7: A guide to the program and applications. Chicago: SPSS.
25. Kline, R. B. (1998). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. New York: Guilford Press.
26. Lammers, H. B. (1991). Moderating influence of self-monitoring and gender on responses to humorous advertising. Journal of Social Psychology, 131, 57-69.
27. Lyttle, J. (2001). The effectiveness of humor in persuasion: The case of business ethics training. Journal of General Psychology, 128, 206-216.
28. Markiewicz, D. (1974). Effects of humor on persuasion. Sociometry, 37, 407-422.
29. Marsh, H. W., & Hocevar, D. (1985). Application of confirmatory factor analysis to the study of self-concept: First- and higher-order factor models and their invariance across groups. Psychological Bulletin, 97, 562-582.
30. McCroskey, J. C. (1966). Scales for the measurement of ethos. Speech Monographs, 33, 65-72.
31. McGuire, W.J. (1968). Personality and attitude change: An information processing theory. In A. G. Greenwald, T. C. Brock, & T. M. Ostrom (Eds.), Psychological foundations of attitudes (pp. 171-196). New York: Academic Press.
32. Moy, P., Xenos, M. A., & Hess, V. K. (2006) Priming effects of late-night comedy. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 18, 198-210.
33. Nabi, R. L. (2002). Anger, fear, uncertainty, and attitudes: A test of the cognitive-functional model. Communication Monographs, 69, 204-216.
34. Neuwirth, K., Frederick, E., & Mayo, C. (2002). Person-effects and heuristic-systematic processing. Communication Research, 29, 320-359.
35. Niven, D., Lichter, S. R., & Amundson, D. (2003). The political content of late night comedy. Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, 8, 118-133.
36. O'Keefe, D. J. (2003). Message properties, mediating states, and manipulation checks: Claims, evidence, and data analysis in experimental persuasive message effects research. Communication Theory, 13, 251-274.
37. Petty, R. E., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1986). The elaboration likelihood model of persuasion. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 19, pp. 123-205). New York: Academic Press.
38. Pfau, M., Ivanov, B., Houston, B., Haigh, M., Sims, J., Gilchrist, E., et al. (2005). Inoculation and mental processing: The instrumental role of associative networks in the process of resistance to counterattitudinal influence. Communication Monographs, 72, 414-441.
39. Pratkanis, A. R., Greenwald, A. G., Leippe, M. R., & Baumgardner, M. H. (1988). In search of reliable persuasive effects: III. The sleeper effect is dead: Long live the sleeper effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(2), 203-218.
40. Priester, J., Wegener, D., Petty, R., & Fabrigar, L. (1999). Examining the psychological process underlying the sleeper effect: The elaboration likelihood model explanation. Media Psychology, 1, 27-48.
41. Slater, M., & Rouner, D. (2002). Entertainment-education and elaboration likelihood: Understanding the processing of narrative persuasion. Communication Theory, 12, 173-191.
42. Sternthal, B., & Craig, C. S. (1973). Humor in advertising. Journal of Marketing, 37, 12-18.
43. Stone, V. A., & Eswara, H. S. (1969). The likability and self-interest of the source in attitude change. Journalism Quarterly, 46, 61-68.
44. Tesser, A., & Conlee, M. C. (1975). Some effects of time and thought on attitude polarization. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 262-270.
45. Thorson, J. A., & Powell, F. C. (1993). Sense of humor and dimensions of personality. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 49, 799-809.
46. Ullman, J. B. (2001). Structural equation modeling. In B. G. Tabachnick & L. S. Fidell (Eds.), Using multivariate statistics (4th ed, pp. 653-771). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
47. Vanden Bergh, B. G., Soley, L. C., & Reid, L. N. (1981). Factor study of dimensions of advertiser credibility. Journalism Quarterly, 58, 629-632.
48. Vidmar, N., & Rokeach, M. (1974). Archie Bunker's bigotry: A study in selective perception and exposure. Journal of Communication, 24, 36-47.
49. Weinberger, M. G., & Gulas, C. S. (1992). The impact of humor in advertising: A review. Journal of Advertising, 21, 35-59.
50. Wheaton, B., Muthen, B., Alwin, D. F., & Summers, G. F. (1977). Assessing reliability and stability in panel models. In D. R. Heise (Ed.), Sociological methodology 1977 (pp. 84-136). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
51. Wolski, S., & Nabi, R. L. (2000, June). Message processing quality: Confirmatory analysis of an elaboration depth measure. Paper presented at the 50th annual conference of the International Communication Association, Acapulco, Mexico.
52. Wyer, R. S., & Collins, J. E. (1992). A theory of humor elicitation. Psychological Review, 99, 663-688.
53. Young, D. G. (2004). Late-night comedy in Election 2000: Its influence on candidate trait ratings and the moderating effects of political knowledge. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 48, 1-22.
54. Zhang, Y. (1996). Responses to humorous advertising: The moderating effect of need for cognition. Journal of Advertising, 25, 15-32.