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He got right back, so, Ross, here is a thoughtful discussion.<br>
Lynn<br>
<br>
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<th valign="baseline" align="right" nowrap="nowrap">Subject: </th>
<td>Re: perceptual accuracy study</td>
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<td>Tue, 15 Feb 2005 22:41:54 -0500</td>
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<td>Kareem Johnson <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:kareemjj@umich.edu"><kareemjj@umich.edu></a></td>
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<td>Lynn D. Johnson, Ph.D.
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:ljohnson@solution-consulting.com"><ljohnson@solution-consulting.com></a></td>
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<th valign="baseline" align="right" nowrap="nowrap">References: </th>
<td><a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:4212B883.1010907@solution-consulting.com"><4212B883.1010907@solution-consulting.com></a></td>
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<pre>Okay first things first.
Who are you exactly? What is paleopsychology and why are you talking
about my soon to be published study?
As for your question. It's funny my co-author Barb Fredrickson is
cautious of using comedians because some humor relies on ridicule and
can be hostile or offensive. But I think that there is something
special about laughter as a positive emotion. I set out to choose
humor that would poke fun at common and shared experiences.
The comedian was a Cacausian male comedian (Kevin James; he's in the
move "Hitch" with Will Smith, star of "King of Queens"). It is hard
to translate comedy material but the segment mentions topics such as
dads that won't turn on air conditioning, long messages on answering
machines, the rhythm of phone numbers, and waiting in elevators. The
segments consistently rate high in reports of amusement, happiness, and
joy and low in anger, fear, or disgust. Ratings of the positive
emotions were positively correlated with cross-race recognition, and
negative emotions like anger and anxiety were negatively correlated
with cross-race recognition.
As for vigilance, there were three emotion conditions; humor, fear, and
neutral. If vigilance would enhance recognition you'd expect the fear
condition to enhance recognition but it did not. Other studies shown
stress (also vigilance) actual impairs cross-race recognition.
The paper is in press at Psychological Science. It should be published
sometime this summer.
A sufficient answer?
Now it is an open question whether using an offensive or "us versus
them" comic would do. Perhaps comedy that makes fun of people that
are different than us (ethnic jokes, gay jokes, jokes about the
mentally retarded) would have a different effect on recognition. But
across a college population sample the emotion reports would also
reveal higher levels of negative emotions of the people offended. Then
you get into the personality variables... so tell me again... how do
you know about this study and why do you care? ;-)
--kareem
On Feb 15, 2005, at 10:05 PM, Lynn D. Johnson, Ph.D. wrote:
> Kareem,
> A question came up on the paleopsychology list - what was the specific
> content of the humor tape. The question was from Ross Buck:
>
> It is interesting that the stimulus for positive emotions here is a
> comedian. We need to know more about the subject of the humor.
> Often, the
> funniest comedians are quite aggressive in their humor, possibly
> fostering
> feelings of in-group bonding that are quite different from
> hearts-and-flowers happiness, and perhaps actually enhancing "us versus
> them" feelings. Could the enhanced recognition of different-race faces
> actually be a kind of vigilance?
> Cheers, Ross
>
> Ross Buck, Ph. D.
> Professor of Communication Sciences
> and Psychology
> Communication Sciences U-1085
> University of Connecticut
> Storrs, CT 06269-1085
> 860-486-4494
> fax 860-486-5422
> <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:buck@uconnvm.uconn.edu">buck@uconnvm.uconn.edu</a>
>
> Any response to that?
> Lynn
>
>
>
>
________________________________________________________
Kareem Johnson Department of Psychology
Ph.D. candidate University of Michigan
(734) 330-5131 (734) 936-0640
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