Humor as a persuasive tool for social change

This report was undertaken to explore how humor may be an underprized tool for social change. An examination of research from multiple disciplines revealed that humor is a multifaceted construct, capable of fulfilling contradictory functions in parallel. Previous reviews and empirical research of humorous communication find that humor can achieve myriad tasks, and typically does so via the elaboration likelihood model's (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986) peripheral processing and related phenomena. Humor can be used persuasively for a range of social issues to promote positive social change, from destigmatizing disability to preventing individuals from joining terrorist organizations. This report's review of literature highlights a need for more empirical research, care taken regarding operationalizations, and organization of knowledge both within and between disciplines. Scholars examining the intersection of humor and social change assert that humor is an effective means of rousing public engagement and is capable of producing meaningful outcomes, leaving much still to explore.