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Laughter, the Best Mediation: Humor as Emotion Management in Interaction

  • Indiana University Bloomington

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

147 Scopus citations

Abstract

Recent work in emotions and emotion management suggests that humor is a social phenomenon and serves an important purpose in interaction. That is, humor can be viewed as interpersonal emotion management, whose purpose is to manage the emotions of others as well as of the self. This article offers the following definition as an analytical tool: humor as emotion management is an expert cultural performance; which strengthens or restores the feeling norms of the situation and creates amusement in the self and others; generating positive sentiments among members of an interacting group by bonding them and/or reducing an external threat; often at the expense of some excluded person(s), event(s), or object(s). 1994 Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)147-163
Number of pages17
JournalSymbolic Interaction
Volume17
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 1994

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