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Showing posts from April, 2010

May 4, 2010: The Power of Humor to Persuade, to Heal, and to Educate

How does a well-played bit of humor immediately disarm an opponent? Why does laughing actually make you feel better? Why are viewers of comedy shows the most informed citizens in the country? It turns out that there is a lot to explore about what is going on in our cognitive and physiological functions when something tickles our funny bone. Humor Heals Humor & Immunity and Humor & Pain by Rod A. Martin (2007) Read pages 317 - 324 (note that some of the text is missing because it's on google books, but the available information is really interesting and enough to get us started in dialogue). Is it true that laughing is good for your health? Half-page article from the University of Wisconsin-Madison MyHyena.com - an example of a handful of web sites I found dedicated to the idea that humor heals. Just peruse the site a bit for some interesting anecdotal information. Humor Persuades The Power to Persuade by Kevin Dutton (Scientific American Mind, March/April 2010) Pages 24 -