Think You’re a Comic Genius? Maybe You’re Just Overconfident No matter how badly the joke is told, it will sometimes elicit a few polite laughs. Why? Because social norms make us averse to providing negative feedback, says Joyce Ehrlinger, a Florida State University assistant professor of psychology whose latest laboratory research recreated everyday interactions in which people might feel pressured to withhold negative information. Interesting, I wonder if this sort of behavior applies to other occasions in society where expressing negative information could be useful.

Think You’re a Comic Genius? Maybe You’re Just Overconfident

No matter how badly the joke is told, it will sometimes elicit a few polite laughs.

Why?

Because social norms make us averse to providing negative feedback, says Joyce Ehrlinger, a Florida State University assistant professor of psychology whose latest laboratory research recreated everyday interactions in which people might feel pressured to withhold negative information.

Interesting, I wonder if this sort of behavior applies to other occasions in society where expressing negative information could be useful.