political satire can educate an electorate
“The duty of comedy is to correct men by amusing them.” - Molière
For over a decade, cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists have been testing this 17th-century aphorism to see what role political satire plays in educating an electorate. The results of a recent study show that political humor makes political information more accessible by increasing our capacity to remember and share it. But the findings come with a major caveat.
The Study
Participants viewed 128 humorous and nonhumorous news clips under 30 seconds in length. The study was two-pronged. Study #1 collected behavioral data: testing retention of information about a proposed law and willingness to share that information. Study #2 collected both behavioral data and fMRI data on brain activity. Interrupting a comedic moment to gather behavioral data is like interrupting a sneeze. It effectively snuffs it out. Neuroimaging allowed researchers to measure brain responses without interrupting the participants’ experience.
Of the 40 subjects in study #1, half were female, half male, ranging in age from 18-34. Participant’s political affiliations were 25 Democrat, 11 Independent and 4 Republican. Study #2 started with 52 participants but ended up with 48 because 4 of them couldn’t hold still in the fMRI.
The Results
Results showed that humor increases your attention because you have to follow the thread of the joke. Anything that demands your attention also increases your likelihood of remembering. The reward response to humor comprehension, “getting the joke” also helps make information more memorable.
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The desire to share humor with others is based on increased activity in regions in the brain involved in trying to understand the mental states of others.
The researchers lay the groundwork for a theory that humor may help us take into consideration other people’s views. Humor may also de-stigmatize political conversation, making politics more palatable to people who don't like thinking about or discussing politics.
The Catch
One of the more significant findings was in the study’s limitations. “If you construct something [humorous] where it's actually hard to disentangle... if it's so close to other events that are going on out there, then it becomes plausible,” says the study’s lead author, Jason Coronel. “If you don't have a source, you can go, 'Yeah, given what I know about what this politician has done in the past, I can see them doing this.’" Preliminary evidence from research Coronel is currently working on with his graduate student, Shannon Poulsen shows that “people actually have a hard time figuring out whether satirical information is true or false.”
So if we want an informed electorate, satirical news may help. If politicians refrain from behaving in ways indistinguishable from satire.
For a provocative commentary on political humor in a healthy democracy, watch cartoonist, Patrick Chappatte’s TED talk “A Free World Needs Satire.”
#News | https://sciencespies.com/news/comedy-helps-spread-political-information-but-theres-a-catch-new-study/
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