Participants who heard the second presenter make the joke rated him as more confident and more competent than those who heard his joke-free delivery. The jokey presenter was also more likely to be voted as the leader for subsequent group tasks. This finding may not be surprising—many of us intuit that humor matters. We tend to view humor as an ancillary leadership behavior. One good laugh—or better still, a workplace culture that encourages levity—facilitates interpersonal communication and builds social cohesion.
But these numbers can and should be larger. It also influences critical behaviors and attitudes that matter to leadership effectiveness, including employee job performance, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, citizenship behaviors, creativity, psychological safety in groups, and desire to interact again in the future.
They can lower status and in extreme cases cost people their jobs. One good laugh—or better still, a workplace that encourages levity—builds cohesion. Humor and laughter are intricately tied to status and power. People in lower ranks who wield them well can climb the status hierarchy in their departments and organizations. As we saw in the Swiss advertising study conducted with our colleague Maurice Schweitzer of the Wharton School , individuals who make funny and appropriate jokes are more likely to be nominated for leadership positions by their peers.
In the same research project, we ran an experiment in which we asked people to recall moments when a colleague was funny. Humor not only helps individuals ascend to positions of authority but also helps them lead more effectively once they are there. Professors Cecily Cooper University of Miami , Tony Kong University of South Florida , and Craig Crossley University of Central Florida found that when leaders used humor as an interpersonal tool, their employees were happier, which fostered better communication and resulted in an uptick in citizenship behaviors—voluntary actions that facilitate organizational effectiveness.
That is, when leaders used humor, their employees were more likely to go above and beyond the call of duty. Why is humor so powerful? In a study to understand what makes things funny, researchers Caleb Warren University of Arizona and Peter McGraw University of Colorado at Boulder found that humor most often occurs when something is perceived as a benign violation.
They conducted studies in which participants were presented with scenarios depicting someone doing something that was benign for example, a pole-vaulter successfully completing a jump , a violation a pole-vaulter failing a jump and getting seriously injured , or both a pole-vaulter failing a jump but not getting seriously injured.
Participants who saw the third kind of scenario simultaneously a violation and benign were more likely to laugh than those who saw the scenarios that were either strictly benign or strictly violations. Things strike us as funny, the researchers concluded, when they make us uncomfortable but do so in a way that is acceptable or not overly threatening. Because telling jokes that violate our psychological safety can be seen as risky, it can make people appear more confident and more competent.
In one of our studies, we found that regardless of whether a joke was considered successful or inappropriate, participants viewed joke tellers as more confident—because they had the courage to attempt a joke at all. Projecting confidence in this way leads to higher status provided the audience has no information that suggests a lack of competence. We also found that people who violate expectations and norms in a socially appropriate way are seen as more competent and more intelligent.
This finding confirms our feelings about funny conversationalists: We admire and respect their wit, which raises their prestige.
But the violating nature of humor is also what makes it risky. Although tellers of inappropriate jokes are still seen as confident, the low competence signaled by unsuccessful attempts at humor can lead to a loss of status. Finding the balance between a benign violation and an extreme violation can be tricky—even professional comedians routinely face criticism for overstepping—and it takes skill to get it right. When we converse with others, we need to balance multiple motives simultaneously.
We may aim to exchange information clearly and accurately, make a positive impression on one another, navigate conflict, have fun, and so on. The degree to which each motive is viewed as normative and socially acceptable varies from setting to setting.
A certain joke may work dazzlingly well with one group of people but completely flop with another—or even with the same group in a different context. Inside jokes are extremely common—our data suggests that almost everyone has engaged in or witnessed one. But how does insider talk, especially inside jokes, affect the dynamics within a group?
We asked people to engage in a brainstorming task on instant messenger. Each participant was teamed up with two of our research assistants posing as fellow participants.
Did it matter whether what they missed was funny? Participants were more likely to believe that their partners thought of themselves as superior in the inside-joke condition than in the inside-information condition, and they reported lower group identification and cohesion when the secret exchange involved a joke. Although levity is typically thought of as a behavior that binds people together, it can draw fault lines in a group, making some people feel awkward and excluded.
Inside jokes have their place, of course. They can signal closeness or camaraderie, making people feel pleased to be in the loop. But the research on this kind of humor is clear: When group cohesion is important, tell jokes that everyone can understand.
In their study, participants either made or received sarcastic comments or made or received sincere ones. Participants in the sarcasm condition were significantly more likely to solve a creativity task assigned later in the experiment than those in the sincere condition.
In a subsequent study, participants were asked to merely recall a time when they either said or heard something sarcastic or a time they said or heard something sincere. Once again, creativity on the subsequent task was higher in the sarcasm condition. Why does this happen? Sarcasm involves saying one thing and meaning the opposite, so using and interpreting it requires higher-level abstract thinking compared with straightforward statements , which boosts creativity.
The downside is that sarcasm can produce higher levels of perceived conflict, particularly when trust is low between the expresser and the recipient. During his presidential campaign, John F. Kennedy faced accusations that his wealthy father was attempting to buy the election.
Self-deprecating humor can be an effective method of neutralizing negative information about oneself. Research by one of us Brad and Maurice Schweitzer found that individuals are seen as warmer and more competent when they disclose negative information about themselves using humor than when they disclose it in a serious manner. When they add humor to a disclosure, counterparts view the negative information as less true and less important.
There are limits to the benefits of self-deprecating humor, however. Among lower-status people it can backfire if the trait or skill in question is an essential area of competence.
For instance, a statistician can more safely make self-deprecating jokes about her spelling than about her statistical skills. So when discussing core competences, another form of humor might serve the purpose better.
An exception worth mentioning is when being self-deprecating about a core competence is the only alternative to disclosing the information in a serious way. You should also avoid using humor to reveal your failures in situations where levity would be seen as inappropriate such as if you are testifying in court or when the failure is perceived as so serious that joking about it would be in poor taste.
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Offers may be subject to change without notice. Read on for 39 riddle jokes that'll entertain the whole family. Article continues below advertisement. Why do geese fly south in the winter? Walking takes too long. Why do ants never get sick? Because they have little antibodies. Why did the old man fall into a well? Because they would be bagels.
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Why did the mushroom go to the party? Because he's a fungi.
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