Laughter vs. fear : the role of political humor in combating fear appeals

Abstract

This study explores political humor’s role in combating the effects of televised fear appeals. While late-night political humor grows in popularity, so does the usage of political fear appeals. Although recent research has supported the idea that programs like The Daily Show and Colbert Report are associated with increased political knowledge and participation (Brewer and Cao, 2006; Baum, 2003a), studies have failed to explore if and how political humor can interrupt and counteract the negative effects of fear appeals. The results of an online experiment indicate that humor does, in fact, lessen the amount of fear felt after viewing a fear appeal, but the specific content of the humorous message does not seem to play a sizable role. In comparison to fear appeals, individuals like the makers of humorous messages better, show more positive attitudes towards humorous messages, perceive higher credibility in the makers to of the humorous stimuli, and perceive greater argument quality in humorous messages. The results also lend support to the discounting cue hypothesis. Implications for political humor research are discussed.