Humour is one of those emotions that people get connected to and tend to remember the jokes or fun for a long time. Most people think that news can never be covered with a touch of humor, but you know what? Research or survey by the University of Pennsylvania and the School of Communication at Ohio Ste University discovered that news delivered with non-humorous content is not more likely to be shared by people with each other. Also, the information that is provided humorously is most likely to stay in people’s minds.
Emily Falk’s opinion on the humourous news and his research on the same
A senior author and professor at Annenberg, Emily Falk, said that it is significant for people to engage themselves with politics and news and be aware of the current affairs so that democracy works. He researched how news depicted in a humorous way influenced and grabbed the attention of young adults from 18 to 34 years of age. He wanted to test how young adults find funny news socially relatable and motivate them to share humorous news clips.
How was the research done?
As mentioned earlier, the research team initially recruited young adults and asked them to watch various news clips with humorous and non-humorous touches so that the line of difference could be easily noticed. Later, using the fMRI technology, data collection on the participants’ brain activity was completed. This was possible to record by conducting a memory test; the participants were asked how likely they would share the news clips with others.
How did the results of the research turn out to be?
It was proved that news related to government and politics delivered humorously and comically were most likely to stay in the participants’ minds. Also, the news delivered with humorous content was more likely to be shared on the internet. In addition, the research also found out that humor and comedy stimulate brain activity connected with social engagement and gradually improve memory for political facts; also, it tends the young adults to share the content.
Lastly, how does humor manage to grab the attention of viewers and readers?
Humour is not something that everyone can get a hold of; a piece of news delivered with good humor is not something everyone can do. Firstly, the audience feels connected to the speaker or writer when the news is being delivered humorously.
This keeps the audience engaged and usually does not bore them. In addition, humor can provide emotional relief and energize people, maybe after they come home tired. So, it helps the audience emotionally, especially if using a catchy phrase to seduce a pretty Thai girl.
To conclude with and as mentioned above, news delivered humorously is more likely to register in people’s brains!