Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2011, Communication

This research effort uses Expectancy Violation Theory (EVT) (Burgoon, 1976) to explore the influence of humorous mass media messages on viewer perceptions of African-Americans' political affiliations and behaviors. Initiated through existing work on parasocial relationships (Cohen, 2010) and advanced through the use of Semantic-Script Theory of Humor (SSH) (Raskin, 1985) in this thesis, EVT is established as a distinct and appropriate theory suitable for the study of mass communication influence. This study investigates the effects of EVT when the source is a member of a minority group (i.e., African-Americans) who violates an expectation in relation to an assumed political ideology. In order to violate expectancies, an experimental design offers a single message that is presented by either a conservative African-American comedian or a conservative white comedian (the control). Perceptions of African-American voting habits, assumptions concerning the political affiliations of African-Americans, cognitive engagement, source evaluations, and the perceived humor of the message are examined. Participants in the African-American comedian group are posited to shift toward seeing African-Americans as more diverse in their voting habits and political identification. This same group is also expected to find the message more humorous, have more thoughts and counterarguments relative to the message, and rate the source of the message more favorably than those in the control condition. Results show that individuals find expectancy violations humorous, and sources of these messages more credible. Political ideology is also explored for its main effects on the dependent variables of interest and as a moderator of the stimulus manipulation.

Committee: Robert L. Holbert (Advisor); Michelle Ortiz (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, Greek and Latin

“Eutrapelia: Humorous texts in Hellenistic poetry” provides a study of the literary humor in Hellenistic iambic poetry in the context of rapid political and cultural change in the Ancient Mediterranean of the third century BCE. This project clarifies several questions connected to the nature of humor in Hellenistic iambic poetry: how does humor function in the poetry and performance of the early Hellenistic era? In which contexts does it appear? Does it reflect the multicultural environment of Ptolemaic Egypt? How is humor connected to the recontextualization of generic conventions, both literary and performative? Does humor become an expression of transgression: political, religious, or social? To address these questions, I conduct several case studies focusing on fragments of poems by Greek writers of the third century BCE (Callimachus, Cercidas, Machon, and Herodas) that refer to the tradition of Greek iambic poetry, a poetic invective genre closely connected to comedy and ritual obscenity. In Chapter 1, I focus on the humorous representation of philosophers in Callimachus's Iambus 1 and argue that these representations play an important role in Callimachus's dialogue with Plato and contemporary philosophy, and, at the same time, reflect Callimachus's ideas about the role of intellectual working in Alexandria under the royal patronage. In Chapter 2, I analyze fragments of Cercidas of Megalopolis, politician and Cynic philosopher, and argue that Cercidas employs elements of Cynic teaching to problematize the political and social issues of his community. In Chapter 3, I conduct a study of several anecdotes attributed to the comic writer Machon and argue that the targets of these anecdotes mirror Machon's own professional fate. In Chapter 4, I analyze sexually oriented humor in Herodas's Mimiamb 6 and argue that in this poem, Herodas promotes an idea of the female origin of iambic poetry. For each of these case studies, I address linguistic features of humor by a (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Benjamin Acosta-Hughes Ph.D. (Advisor); Tom Hawkins Ph.D. (Committee Member); Dana Munteanu Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Classical Studies; Gender Studies; Language; Literature; Philosophy

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2021, Philosophy (Arts and Sciences)

Dewey's aesthetic theory as described in Art as Experience provides a unique lens through which many kinds of non-traditional art can explored. In this thesis, I present an account of relevant parts of Dewey's theory as they apply to stand-up comedy, highlighting the characteristics of an experience and the natural tendency to move from disorder to order. I then detail key components of incongruity theory of humor, including but not limited to the emphasis on the necessity of incongruity for humor rather than its sufficiency. I show how the incongruity theory applies to a particular sub-genre of stand-up comedy, dark humor. I then argue that the creation or appreciation of dark humor can be aesthetic in Dewey's sense. I conclude by responding to two potential criticisms of my argument.

Committee: Yoichi Ishida (Advisor); Christoph Hanisch (Committee Member); Robert Briscoe (Committee Member) Subjects: Philosophy

Master of Arts in English, Youngstown State University, 2000, Department of Languages

This thesis expands and deepens linguistic theory as well as applies the resulting concepts empirically. The first sections outline linguistic humor theory in general, and Raskin's Semantic Script Theory (SSTH, 1985) as well as the General Theory of Verbal Humor (GTVH, Attardo and Raskin 1991) in particular. The following theoretical sections redefine the GTVH's concept of logical mechanism – as most intricately connected to both the textual-narrative and the cognitive aspects of textual humor – in terms of set theory and expand the arsenal of the GTVH's tools to make it applicable to humorous narratives

Committee: Salvatore Attardo (Advisor) Subjects: Language, Linguistics