“The Promise and Peril of Political Humor as a Rhetorical Device”
Dannagai G. Young
Date & Time: October 28, 2016, 1:00 pm–2:30 pm
Location: Foster Auditorium, Paterno Library
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Dannagal G. Young, a leading political communication scholar, will present the fall 2016 Robert M. Pockrass Memorial Lecture titled “The Promise and Peril of Political Humor as a Rhetorical Device,” in a free public session sponsored by College of Communications and University Libraries. Young is an associate professor at the University of Delaware. Her research on the psychology and influence of political entertainment has been widely published, including articles in Columbia Journalism Review, Media Psychology, Political Communication, International Journal of Press/Politics and Mass Communication and Society. Her talk will explore the content, categories and influence of political humor. oung will present the results of recent experimental work that shows different rates of humor appreciation among liberals and conservatives, as mediated through personality traits known to correlate with ideology. She will address the role played by social media in stripping political satire of the context necessary to make sense of it in the way intended by the authors. The Pockrass Lecture was named after the late Professor Robert M. Pockrass, a member of Penn State's journalism faculty from 1948 to 1977. Pockrass, who specialized in public opinion and popular culture, served as the graduate officer and taught radio news writing.
