An examination of university students’ perceptions of physicians’ humor usage, source credibility, and fear of physician

ABSTRACT

The study examined university students’ (N = 237) ratings of their primary care physicians’ humor usage (identification and differentiation), credibility, and fear of physician. Participants reported physician identification humor to be a positive predictor of physician credibility and a negative predictor of fear of physician. Conversely, participants reported physician differentiation humor to be a negative predictor of physician credibility and a positive predictor of fear of physician. The study offers support for the continuum perspective of humor through empirical observations. Based on the study’s results, the author proposes recommendations for humor enactment in the physician-patient relationship.

KEYWORDS:

• Fear of Physician
• Humor
• Health Communication
• Source Credibility

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Matthew C. Ramsey

Matthew C. Ramsey is an Associate Professor of Communication Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania.