| Notes |
laughter"Surprisingly, authority can also he established by humor. The speaker who can make light of a topic demonstrates comfort in the circumstances and familiarity with the issues. The humor of the stand-up comic or the joke-of-the-week belong on late-night TV. But researchers like Robert R. Provine, professor of neurobiology and psychology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, who study laughter and humor in common conversation, see laughter as 'social glue,' rather than a response to something inherently funny. Laughter binds speaker and listener. Most of the time, no one is telling jokes. But within the course of a conversation, tension is reduced and connections are made with humor. This is why when the boss laughs, everybody laughs." |
