That's Funny! The Use of Humor In Persuasion Part One

You know what's funny? The use of humor in positive persuasion! And I'll tell you why, even though it seems a bit obvious. The use of humor allows us to speak to the universality of the human experience. More, it invites people to laugh at themselves, or laugh with us at ourselves. Or laugh with us at others, while missing the point that the joke is, in fact, on us.

Everyone loves quotes. And all speakers use them. What is so funny about quotes? How about quoting myself? Because, as I say quite often, "United we stand, but divided, we can not stand each other!" And I could not agree more. Humor breaks down the barriers that keep us divided and polarized. Humor builds bridges to bring us together. The use of humor puts people on common footing, it attracts and holds interest. And it creates a positive atmosphere, goodwill to all, that is helpful when you want communication to be particularly meaningful. Humor discharges resistance, overcomes stubbornness, and creates opportunity for dialog. Humor has such a positive impact on people that more and more businesses (not the dead-serious ones though!) employ it to hold on to employees and train them too. Humor is a powerful tool for the person serious about creating positive change. Why? Well, in case I haven't made the point, not because I say so. It's a fact. Humor is persuasive.

But let's be honest. Not all humor is equally funny. In fact, bad humor is also one of the fastest ways to put people in a bad mood, undermine relationships, create hard feelings, offend sensibilities, poison an atmosphere and destroy what could have been a great event, project, team, business, or community.

And I'd say that it is safe to say that not all funny is funny to all. In-jokes are usually only funny to the people in on the joke, the people who shared the experience with you. They tend to leave everyone else drawing a blank. But sometimes, you tell an in-joke, the people who are in start laughing, and the people who aren't in on the joke start laughing too! All the while, they are wondering, and maybe even saying, "What's so funny?because they are wondering why 'we' are all laughing.

Still, you just can't please all the people all the time. If it is tasteless, spare us. Unless you know us and know that our taste runs all the way to tasteless. To know for a fact what is and is not funny to others, you want to find out as much as you can about the people you are talking to and what they find amusing.

That can't be too hard to do. All you have to do is notice what gets people laughing. More about humor in persuasion can be found in the second part of this article series. In the meantime, remember. No, there are no stupid questions. Just stupid people!


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Dr. Rick Kirschner is the author of the 'INSIDER'S GUIDE TO THE ART OF PERSUASION: Use Your Influence To Change Your World,' now available, along with a blog, newsletter and free podcast, at http://TheArtofChange.com FREE! For a limited time, get a $49 audio program on Dealing With Difficult People absolutely free! Visit http://theartofchange.com/promo for details!