University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 6-1986 Audience Perceptions of Five Types of Radio Humor Larry Zane Leslie University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Communication Commons Recommended Citation Leslie, Larry Zane, "Audience Perceptions of Five Types of Radio Humor. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 1986. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/2933 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Larry Zane Leslie entitled "Audience Perceptions of Five Types of Radio Humor." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Communication. Michael F. Singletary, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: George Everett, Barbara Moore, Kyle Reed, Sam Swan Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council : I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Larry Zane Leslie entitled "Audience Perceptions of Five Types of Radio Humor ." I have examined the final copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy , with a major in Communications . Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: /2:k4>� s�. [ Accepted for the Council : Vice Provost and Dean of The Graduate School AUDIENCE PERCEPTIONS OF FIVE TYPES OF RADIO HUMOR A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Larry Zane Leslie June 1986 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My special thanks to Dr . Michael Sing letary for providing sound advice and support throughout the project. I·am indebted also to Dr . George Everett , Dr . Barbara · Moore , Dr . Kyle Reed , and Dr . Sam Swan for their comments , criticism , and encouragement. I also very much appreciate the assistance of several fellow graduate students . Thanks to Eddie Blick, Evelyn Brannon , Don Grierson, Anne Harris , and Ruth Ann Mofield for their assistance in identifying subjects for use in this research. ii ABSTRACT Humor , a natural part of the human environment, is all around us: from newspaper comics and television sit-coms to popular movies and the latest joke . Yet the phenomenon of humor on radio, i.e., humor used by air personalities , has remained largely unstudied . Can the variation in listener response to radio humor be accounted for? The relationship of five demographic variables to five types of humor was tested by regression analysis. The intent was to learn the extent to which each variab le contributed to appreciation of each type of humor . One hundred sixty subjects were exposed to fifteen humorous radio segments . Subjects were students , club and church members, office workers , and industrial empl oyees . Humor involved sexual, ethnic , and po litical themes , as we ll as material rel ated to alcoholic beverages and body type . Subjects were asked to rate their appreciation of each humor segment on a 100-point scale and then to assess the degree to which they liked the announcer 's style or del ivery on a 5-point Likert scale. Mean humor appreciation scores ranged from 55.1 for alcohol humor to 38.2 for political humor. Mean announcer liking scores ranged from 3.2 for alcohol humor to 2.5 for sexual humor . iii Regression analysis indicates that liking of the announcer 's style or del ivery was a highly significant contributor to appreciation of each of the five humor types; age was significant in humor with a sexual, ethnic, or alcohol theme . Gender was significant iri ethnic humor only. This research shows that appreciation of humor can be partial ly explained by sel ected demographics. Further research should refine variables used here and propose new variables , such as delivery techniques or personality traits. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE 1. INTRODUCTION. ................ • • .• • • • • • • • • • • 1 Background of the Problem ••••••••••••••• 1 Statement of the Problem •••••••••••••••• 5 Purpose and Need for the Study •••••••••• 6 Scope and Limitations of the Project •••• 8 Definition of Terms ••••••••••••••••••••• 11 2. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE •••••••••••••••••• 12 Historical Views of Humor and Laughter •• 12 Some Early Humor Experiments •••••••••••• 14 Humor on Radio and Television ••••••••••• 16 Use of Humor in Advertising •••••••• ••••• 16 Gender Differences and Humor with a Sexual Theme •••••••••••••••••••••••••• 18 Studies of Humor and Aggression ••••••••• 20 Other Important Humor Studies ••••••••••• 22 Humor and Organizational Communication •• 24 Classification Systems •••••••••••••••••• 25 Comprehension of Humor •••••••••••••••••• 27 Social .Contexts of Humor •••••••••••••••• 27 Theories of Humor ••••••••••••••••••••••• 29 Evaluation •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 30 v CHAPTER PAGE 3. RESEARCH PROCEDURES ••••••••••••••••••••••• 32 Research Design ••••••••••••••••••••••••• 33 Working Hypothesis •••••••••••••••••••••• 34 Preparation of Treatment •••••••••••••••• 34 Recording Subject Responses ••••••••••••• 36 Pre-Test •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 37 Identification of Subjects •••••••••••••• 37 The Treatment ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 38 Control of Extraneous Variables ••••••••• 39 Statistical Ana lysis of Data •••••••••••• 41 4. RESULTS ................................... 43 General Characteristics of Subjects ••••• 43 The Sexual Humor Model •••••••••••••••••• 44 The Body Humor Model •••••••••••••••••••• 47 The Ethnic Humor Model •••••••••••••••••• 49 The Pol itica l Humor Model ••••••••••••••• 51 The Alcohol Humor Model ••••••••••••••••• 53 Mu lticollinearity ••••••••••••••••••••••• 55 Other Observations •••••••••••••••••••••• 57 Summary . • . • . • . 58 5. SUMMARY , CONCLUSIONS , AND RECOMMENDATIONS •• 60 Summary . • • . • • • • . • • . • • • . • • • • • • • . • . • • • • • • 6 0 Discussion •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 60 Conclusions ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 62 vi CHAPTER PAGE The Hypothesis •••••••••••••••••••••••••• 63 Humor Theory Implications ••••••••••••••• 64 Implications for Station Operation •••••• 66 Suggestions for Further Research •••••••• 67 REFERENCES. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 6 9 APPENDIXES •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 77 APPENDIX A. INFORMATIONAL DATA ON TREATMENT SEGMENTS ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 78 APPENDIX B. INSTRUCTIONS FOR ADMINISTRATOR ••••• 80 APPENDIX C. TREATMENT PACKET OF MATERIALS •••••• 85 VITA .............................................. 90 vii LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE 1. Means and Standard Deviations for Demographic Variables ••••••••••••••••••••• 43 2. Regression Analysis Results for Sexual Humor Model •••••••.•••••••.•••••.••••••••• 46 3. Stepwise Regression Results for Sexual Humor Model ..••••..•..••..•..••••••.•••..• 48 4. Regression Analysis Results for Body Humor Mode 1 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 50 5. Stepwise Regression Results for Body Humor Mode 1 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 50 6. Regression Analysis Results for Ethnic Humor Mode 1 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 52 7. Stepwise Regression Results for Ethnic Humor Mode 1 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 52 B. Regress ion Analysis Results for Political Humor Model ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 54 9. Stepwise Regression Results for Political Humor Mode 1 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 54 10 . Regression Analysis Results for Alcoho l Humor Model ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 56 11 . Stepwise Regression Results for Alcoho l Humor Model ••••••••••••••••••••••.•.•••••• 56 12 . Means and Standard Deviations for Appreciation and Liking Variables by Humor Type •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 59 13. Models Showing Variables Inf luencing Humor Appreciation ••.••••••••••••••••••.•• 59 viii LIST OF PLATES PLATE PAGE 1. Audiotape of Humor Segments ••••••••••••In Pocket ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Background of the Problem "George Bernard Shaw advised a writer on the subject of humor to go to a sanitarium , with the injunction , 'There is no more dangerous literary symptom than a temptation to write about wit and humor '" (Omwake , 1937, p. 688). Singer (1968) suggests that the "pleasurable nature of humor and its ubiquity in both interpersonal rel ations and the mass media make it a particularly intriguing phenomenon for study" (p. 1) . Observers of human behavior--anthropo logists , sociologists, educators , psychologists , and others--have studied humor for several centuries . Almost everyone agrees that humor plays an important part in human communication. Some newspaper readers turn first to the comics page of their paper before moving on to the other news of the day . And who has not been on the receiving end of the latest