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Laughing Out Bias: Humorous Testimonials on Social Media as Positive Media Interventions to Reduce Prejudice Among Youth
The Laughing Out Bias (LOB) project examines how humorous testimonial narratives disseminated through social media shape cognitive, emotional, and evaluative processes among young adults. It adopts a theory-building approach that integrates narrative persuasion, psychological insight, humor processing, and Positive Media Psychology. Its central aim is to clarify how first-person humorous testimonials influence message processing in digital environments by activating mechanisms such as identification with the protagonist, narrative transportation, emotional responses, reactance, counterarguing, and psychological insight. It examines key message-level variables, including source characteristics, humor style, cues designed to enhance identification, and narrative features intended to elicit psychological insight. A central element is the “cognitive Trojan horse,” a mechanism through which humor introduces ideas that run counter to pre-existing attitudes in a non-threatening manner, reducing defensiveness and enabling greater cognitive openness. LOB has long-term social relevance and potential economic impact. By clarifying how humorous testimonial narratives and insight-based reframing operate in digital environments relevant to young people, the project may contribute to informing media literacy initiatives, positive communication strategies, and digital well-being programmes.
Project financed by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades in collaboration with the EU in the frame of the “Convocatoria de «Proyectos de Generación de Conocimiento» y actuaciones para la formación de personal investigador predoctoral asociadas a dichos proyectos”. Project code: PID2025-170838NB-I00
