When teachers use verbal and nonverbal messages to elicit laughter and smiling from students, they employ a teaching strategy labeled instructional humor . Classic and contemporary scholarship on this topic has shed light on the benefits of teacher humor, how teacher humor relates to student learning, challenges of studying the relationship between humor and learning, and different types of teacher humor. Instructional communication researchers recognize teacher humor as an important type of immediacy behavior often used to reduce psychological distance between students and teachers and facilitate student learning.
This research examined how humor orientation can be productive as a managerial trait. 151 individuals in the workforce rated their own and their managers’ humor orientation and a measure of humorous behavior enactments. Results indicated that respondents who are higher in humor orientation are more likely to enact humorous behaviors in the workplace, and that managers who were perceived as higher in humor orientation were viewed as more likeable and more effective in their positions.
Abstract Students' perceptions of "teacher misbehaviors"; may be related to teacher's socio‐communicative style (i.e., assertiveness and responsiveness), type of instructor (graduate assistant versus professor), and affect for teacher and course material. Four hypotheses were confirmed, indicating an inverse relationship between perceptions of teacher misbehaviors and 1) teacher assertiveness, 2) teacher responsiveness, 3) positive affect for the teacher, and 4) positive affect for the course material. Perceptions of teacher misbehaviors did not covary with type of instructor. Teachers' socio‐communicative styles may dramatically affect student perceptions of teachers and course material. Specific misbehaviors are ranked according to apparent influence on student affect. Keywords: socio‐communicative style (assertiveness and responsiveness)teacher misbehaviorsinstructor typestudent affect for teacherstudent affect for course material
Abstract This study replicated and extended a preliminary typology of appropriate and inappropriate teacher humor and advanced three explanations for differences in interpretations of teacher humor. Students were more likely to view teacher humor as inappropriate when it was perceived as offensive and when it demeaned students as a group or individually. Student humor orientation, verbal aggressiveness, and communication competence were related to how students viewed teachers’ use of appropriate and inappropriate humor. Teachers’ level of humor orientation, verbal aggressiveness, and nonverbal immediacy were also related to how students viewed teachers’ use of humor. These results suggest that a combination of the factors examined can be used to explain differences in ratings of classroom humor appropriateness. Keywords: Appropriate and Inappropriate HumorCommunication CompetenceHumor OrientationVerbal AggressionNonverbal ImmediacyIncongruity Resolution TheoryDisposition Theory An earlier draft was presented at the 2007 National Communication Association annual meeting, Chicago, IL. An earlier draft was presented at the 2007 National Communication Association annual meeting, Chicago, IL. Notes An earlier draft was presented at the 2007 National Communication Association annual meeting, Chicago, IL. Additional informationNotes on contributorsAnn Bainbridge Frymier Ann Bainbridge Frymier (Ed.D., West Virginia University, 1992) is an Associate Professor in Communication and Associate Dean of the Graduate School at Miami University, Oxford, OH Melissa Bekelja Wanzer Melissa Bekelja Wanzer (Ed.D., West Virginia University, 1995) is a Professor in Communication Studies at Canisius College, Buffalo, NY Ann M. Wojtaszczyk Ann M. Wojtaszczyk is an undergraduate biochemistry major at Canisius College
This study replicated and extended existing research on cancer survivors' perceptions of helpful and unhelpful social support messages and sources. Forty-three participants with diverse cancer experiences were interviewed about their perceptions of helpful and unhelpful social support messages and sources. Participants recalled six categories of helpful (i.e., network, emotional, esteem, tangible, informational and unspecified) and five categories of unhelpful (i.e., network, emotional, esteem, tangible, informational) messages/sources received during and after cancer treatment. Helpful and unhelpful messages came from spouses, family members, friends, coworkers, healthcare providers and others. Patterns of meaningful message-source combinations are described. Participants recalled double the amount of helpful support messages than nonsupport messages, offering support for the positivity bias. Participants' memories of helpful support messages and sources during treatment followed a consistent pattern; however, expectations and experiences of received social support after completion of cancer treatment were inconsistent and contradictory.
Research investigated the production of humor and correlates with the communicator trait of Humor Orientation (HO; Booth‐Butterfield & Booth‐Butterfield, 1991). In Phase One, 161 university students completed four self report scales. Humor Orientation was positively correlated with communication traits of communicator adaptability, concern for eliciting positive impressions, affective orientation, and situational sense of humor. To compare differences in humor production, 57 students from Phase One were recruited on the basis of HO scores. High (N=29) and low (N=28) HOs delivered 3 jokes. High HOs were perceived to be funnier than low HOs both by participant‐observers and by independent coders who listened to audiotapes. However, participant‐observers rated messages significantly funnier than those who only listened to tapes. Key concepts: Humor orientationhumor productionhumor behavioraffective orientationcompetence
This study used Predicted Outcome Value theory as a general framework to understand why some roommate relationships persist and others do not. Data from this study indicate that roommates who had more positive initial interactions were more likely to continue living together and indicated that they would live together in the future. Additionally, positive initial impressions were linked to more satisfying subsequent interactions. Roommates who indicated more positive initial impressions were also more likely to use constructive, or solution oriented conflict management strategies and avoid antisocial or unproductive strategies. For those roommates whose initial impressions were less positive, subsequent interactions were less satisfying and they were less likely to use productive methods of resolving conflict. Study applications and limitations are addressed in the final sections of the paper.
Abstract Specific communication practices of multiple professionals in health care settings can impact patient outcomes. This study, conducted at a large Children's Hospital, sought to determine the extent to which patient-centered communication (PCC) affected satisfaction with communication and with care itself. Parents of child patients (N = 195) reported on the communication practices of physicians, nurses, and hospital staff members during their most recent stay in the hospital. Surveys were completed on site. Health care providers' use of PCC behaviors, especially immediacy and perceived listening, was positively associated with satisfaction with care and with communication. In addition, PCC behaviors were perceived to be used more frequently with children in better health than with children with poorer health status.
Persons with disabilities are often treated differently from persons without disabilities. This differential treatment is often based in the stigma associated with disabilities. The present study investigated communication between students with and without disabilities and their instructors. Participants reported how understood they felt, how similar to their instructor they felt, and evaluated their instructors' communication competence. Additionally, participants reported their willingness to communicate with professors and evaluated the appropriateness of 28 accommodations students with disabilities may request from instructors. Results indicated that students with disabilities perceived their interactions with their instructors somewhat differently than students without disabilities.
