Humor: Helpful or Harmful?

There are many ways to evaluate the health of a social connection. We know to notice eye contact, body language, tone of voice, and balance of listening and talking. But what about laughter? We intuitively know that when we laugh together, there’s a high probability we like one another or have something in common. Laughter can also signal discomfort, a power indifference, or low self-esteem.

Our question this episode: what are the ways laughter and humor advance or distract from our communication?

(PS: I decided after doing this episode that this was going to be part one of two. There’s a lot to be said on this topic, so please stay tuned next week for more about how to use humor for connection and curb counter-productive humor habits.)

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