Humor Portfolio

Humor Portfolio

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Humor Portfolio

Artifact 1

The artifact uses humor in an exceptional way to communicate the importance of energy conservation in various settings such as homes and the workplace. This artifact has a sexual connotation in that it compares the irresponsible usage of energy to unsatisfactory relationships. The artifact illustrates that humor is an importance communication tool and strategy in that it highlights the importance of conversation of energy. The artifact likens the use of energy to intimacy in a relationship, in the sense that energy consumption is an important part of human life similar to intimate relationships.

Hertzler (1970), states that humor provides an effective means of resolving conflicts. In relation to the artifact provided, humor provides a means to enhance the understanding and awareness of the audience on the importance of energy conservation for a sustainable and quality future (DiCioccio, 2013). Humor and associated laughter are all expressive forms of communication, integral to socialization in groups. In this case, humor has been used to affirm, social values and norms that are relative to intimate relationships. The artifacts gives emphasis to reciprocity in romantic relationships as noted in the last sentence.

In this case, humor acts as a positive sanction, in that it reinforces socially acceptable behavior, conservation of energy for a sustainable future. In addition, humor is a unification tool since it provides open lines of communication between the author of the artifact and the audience. The author aims to persuade the audience to take up energy use as an important and sensitive issue as they would take intimacy in their relationships. The author persuades the audience to conform to responsible usage of energy in all settings given that it is an important and sensitive issue (Mortensen, 2008).

Artifact 2

The second artifact uses sarcasm and irony to provide a link between the habit of smoking and death. The author takes advantage of the reception of the message contained in the humorous artifact amongst audiences in groups. The author is able to break down the barriers of communication by highlighting a common social problem, cigarette smoking. The author likens relaxation to eternal death, given that majorities of smokers claim to engage in the habit with an aim of calming their nerves. The humor used in this article has been used to enhance and affirm the status differences between smokers and non-smokers. Smokers are susceptible to deaths related to their habits, while non-smokers are only susceptible to deaths from natural causes (Mortensen, 2008).

Humor and associated laughter is a reciprocal and social act, with withholding laughter being termed as hostility and lack of conformity to the social order that is highlighted by the author. The use of satire confirms to the application of this technique as a means of delivering the message in the context of or guise of humor (Mortensen, 2008). The author mocks smoking as a part-time activity that provides benefits of relaxation by noting that it swiftly leads to death through various health complications. Hostile humor such as satire and irony are used with an aim of exercising aggressive impulses such that participants are unable to resort to verbal and physical attacks. In addition, it is an effective and economical tactic for psychological warfare (DiCioccio, 2013).

Questions

1. What makes humor an effective tool of communication
2. What are the main types of humor with their respective characteristics and contexts of usage?
3. To be classified as humor, what are the main traits of humorous items or artifacts?

Reference

DiCioccio, R. L. (2013). Humor communication: Theory, impact, and outcomes. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt.

Mortensen, C. D. (2008). Communication theory. New Brunswick, N.J: Transaction Publishers.

Artifact 1

Artifact 2