Political Humor in Mass Communication

Abstract

Objective. The analysis of the impact of humorous messages about politics, which are distributed through the channels of mass communication, on the perceptions, assessments, and behavior of people in the political sphere.
Background. Humorous messages about politics can be found in various countries and presented in different forms. Nevertheless, the researchers cannot come to unambiguous conclusions about their impact on people’s attitudes towards political reality. This article reviews the results obtained and highlights areas for further research.
Conclusions. Humorous messages about politics, which are distributed through mass communication channels, can be seen as persuasive influence. Humor increases attention to messages on political topics and complicates their understanding. This, in turn, reduces the thoroughness of information analysis, i.e., increases the likelihood of using a peripheral/heuristic strategy. The impact of humorous messages is an increase in political knowledge and internal political self-efficacy, a deterioration in attitudes towards politicians and the political system, and, as a result, an increase in readiness for political behavior. However, the strength and direction of this influence depend in part on the characteristics of the communicator (e.g., host or politician), the characteristics of the message (e.g., superficial or deep, mild, or hard humor), and the characteristics of the audience (e.g., political awareness).