formatted in the APA style essay writing on how humor functions

Project Desciption

The APA style to investigate how humor actually functions—sociologically, psychologically, or anthropologically—in your life and, by extrapolation, our lives. In other words, I want you to become aware of how you use humor in your everyday life and examine the socio-political and psychological motivations that may lie beneath your joking behaviors. For instance, do you engage in humorous behavior in order to attract a mate, to express anger/ disapproval (or other socially unacceptable emotions), to maintain your place in a group, to assert dominance or expertise?  Do you tailor your humor to your audience, and, if so, how and why? Do you whisper clever asides to your neighbor in class or other inappropriate environments, and, if so, why and why are you so embarrassed when asked to repeat it?  Are there people with whom you never or seldom joke, and, if so, is that decision based on status, gender, or some other factor? (That should at least scratch the surface of the questions you might ask of yourself.)

Once you have isolated some of the ulterior motives that seemingly influence and organize your joking behaviors, research the one you find most intriguing or disturbing or frequent to see what, if any, scholarly work has been performed on the causes, the prevalence, and the larger implications of your particular motive.  From there, analyze and assess the data from those studies and argue whether the conclusions derived therefrom are accurate, partial, or wrongheaded (i.e., does the shoe fit, almost, or not at all?).

The essay should be 5-6 pages long (not including Works Cited) and formatted in the APA style.  Your research should include references to at least two (2) scholarly studies from the social science fields. (Use the library databases to assist in locating these.)