The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was to determine what successful managers do to create healthy work environments in a healthcare organization. Managers using exemplary behaviors were selected and interviewed based on employee satisfaction surveys, and focus groups were conducted with employees who worked for them. Effective…

Three types of jokes are distinguishable according to the style of speech used: 1) the merely prosaic joke, 2) the joke with a fictitious dialogue, and 3) the dialogue joke. These are analyzed in terms of communication, discourse analysis, and semantics. (Text is in German.) (DS)

This paper examines the negative stereotypes so long foisted on witty women and the move of contemporary witty women writers into a comic vision beyond the imposed connection of female wit to sly cleverness and witchcraft. To illustrate how the woman writer had to cope with a prejudice against and a fear of her wit, the paper considers three…

Humor can be incorporated advantageously in personality guidance within the group and individual context. The guidance teacher must, in the first instance know when humor should be applied within the group context; secondly, the teacher is responsible for ensuring that humor is not abused, either by the group or himself. Should these conditions be…

The desire for consistent judging criteria is essential to the learning process of forensics students. When evaluating the After Dinner Speaking (ADS) judges need to focus on a variety of criteria. Some of these criteria transcend event descriptions while others are indigenous primarily to ADS. The topic chosen for the event should demonstrate…

Presents Machiavellian ways to recognize and reckon with the touchy side of decisionmaking. Deals with stalling for time, keeping the peace, and passing the buck. (Author/WM)

An investigation of the influence of internal and external cues upon the perception of humor in the violation of a logical expectancy (using conservation of weight) in a total of 108 third and fifth graders. (ED)

Adolescent girls who were referred to a guidance counselor because of lack of academic interest, erratic attendance, or uncooperative behavior participated in this study conducted at a large, urban, public school. Two groups were formed and the function of humor and laughter explored. (BJG)

This book is a collection of folklore and tales written or collected by and/or about people in Flagler County, Florida, and intended to stimulate adult reading enthusiasm. Most of the stories are humorous; they are grouped into seven chapters in the book. Chapters include tales of events, ghosts, drinking and moonshine, courting, old cures and…

Two learning activities (one involving a craft and the other radio programs) provided in two elementary classes taught by a community volunteer are described, and related material for implementing the activities in other classrooms is provided. The lessons were taught in a regularly scheduled activity period entitled "Children's Choice;"…

The Bible contains a variety of literary genres including drama, tragedy, and epic poetry, and it is an excellent basis for character study. It also contains a certain amount of humor, which should not be overlooked by students of biblical literature. Examples of intentional humor include the second version of the creation, found in the second…

Understanding how laughter communicates helps to explain how individuals respond to laughter in intercultural situations. There are three manifestations of laughter: reflex responses to particular physical stimuli; automatic reactions to informative stimuli that can be intentionally controlled; and symbols encoded with semantic meanings…

Frame analysis of 85 cartoons from "The New Yorker" magazine was used to discover the significant keys, or metacommunicative characterizers, of cartoon humor. It was hypothesized that these keys/characterizers function to cue the readers so that they frame the message of the cartoon in a way that permits a humorous interpretation of the cartoon's…

A 16-page, four-color-on-newsprint magazine, "Krokodil" is among the world's most popular magazines of humor and satire. As a product of the Pravda Publishing House, it is produced by a branch of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, yet there are no official taboos or guidelines. Connections, popularity, and profits give…

This document reports on an empirical investigation of anti-women humor appearing in the Reader's Digest over three decades, revealing the operation of an unconscious sexist ideology. A systematic analysis was made of 1,069 jokes appearing in two featured columns of the Reader's Digest for the two-year periods 1947-48, 1957-58, and 1967-68.…