Showing a Sense of Humor at Work Can Make You More Competent.
The professional environment may seem like the last place to try your latest joke, but recent research shows that jokes can make you more confident and capable, even if the joke fails.
The study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , includes three different experiments and invites you to show off your sense of humor with appropriate jokes, which will boost your status with your peers. Allison Wood Brooks, co-lead of the study, shares some of the key findings from the experiments in the Harvard Business Review :
First, don’t be afraid of the flop. Bad jokes – as long as they are appropriate – will not affect your social standing or affect how competent people think you are. They can even boost your self-confidence.
Second, it is almost always advisable to tell a pertinent anecdote. A well-executed joke will make you seem more confident, competent, and more authoritative. The flop only makes you seem inept if you answer seriously.
Finally, don’t joke with an unfamiliar audience. Even when done successfully, they do not increase your perceived status or competence, and if they fail, they can seriously harm you and your career.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard this advice , but this study helps reinforce it. If you can keep your jokes clean, let them take off . Unless, of course, you are surrounded by people who do not know you at all.
Risky business: when humor raises and downgrades status | Journal of Personality and Social Psychology via Harvard Business Review