Bitterly T Bradford, Brooks Alison Wood, Schweitzer Maurice E
Department of Operations, Information & Decisions, Wharton School.
Negotiation, Organizations & Markets Unit, Harvard Business School.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2017 Mar;112(3):431-455. doi: 10.1037/pspi0000079. Epub 2016 Nov 10.
Across 8 experiments, we demonstrate that humor can influence status, but attempting to use humor is risky. The successful use of humor can increase status in both new and existing relationships, but unsuccessful humor attempts (e.g., inappropriate jokes) can harm status. The relationship between the successful use of humor and status is mediated by perceptions of confidence and competence. The successful use of humor signals confidence and competence, which in turn increases the joke teller's status. Interestingly, telling both appropriate and inappropriate jokes, regardless of the outcome, signals confidence. Although signaling confidence typically increases status and power, telling inappropriate jokes signals low competence and the combined effect of high confidence and low competence harms status. Rather than conceptualizing humor as a frivolous or ancillary behavior, we argue that humor plays a fundamental role in shaping interpersonal perceptions and hierarchies within groups. (PsycINFO Database Record
在8项实验中，我们证明幽默会影响地位，但试图运用幽默是有风险的。成功运用幽默能提升在新关系和现有关系中的地位，但幽默尝试失败（如不恰当的笑话）会损害地位。成功运用幽默与地位之间的关系由自信和能力的认知介导。成功运用幽默表明自信和能力，进而提升讲笑话者的地位。有趣的是，无论结果如何，讲恰当和不恰当的笑话都表明自信。虽然表明自信通常会提升地位和权力，但讲不恰当的笑话表明能力不足，而高自信和低能力的综合影响会损害地位。我们认为，幽默并非一种轻浮或附属行为，而是在塑造群体内的人际认知和等级制度方面发挥着重要作用。（《心理学文摘数据库记录》 ）
