Abstract:
Using humor, empathy, and improvisation to make science more accessible to the average person, the center has helped many scientists communicate more effectively about what they do. In many cases, this involves taking science down from the metaphorical “ivory tower” and bringing it into the comfort zone of students and people who may not have had a positive experience in science classes. A variety of metaphors are used to make science “come alive.” This is an interesting counter example to earlier theories of metaphor and comedy such as the “disparagement theory” (Mio and Graesser 1991) which described jokes as more successful if they relied on disparaging metaphors that build community through shared hostility. The metaphor approach builds community and creates inclusion through “social-facilitative functions of playful language” (Ritchie and Schell 2009). When a scientist helps a layperson or student understand humorous metaphors, it communicates the literal meaning of terms, but also the contextual meaning, research practices, and the laboratory social setting. This is argued through examples of humor, comedy, and metaphor—a timely issue given current political discussions in the United States.
