Satire as Persuasion.

Satire is a genre long extant if not especially beloved in human history. Practitioners of the art claim the intent to persuade and educate through their works. Many quantitative studies have tested the persuasive effects of satire. In research on persuasion, A.D. Annis (1939) compared the effects of editorials and editorial cartoons and concluded that straight editorials were more persuasive than satirical ones. C. R. Gruner's dissertation study (1965) showed that satire's humor may be enjoyed without being fully understood. In 1977, L. Powell found that straight messages were more effective than satire but that satire, in the long run, did more to prevent counter argumentation. All of these studies, while divergent in approach and aims, seem to suggest, at least, that satire can be persuasive. In the research on the understanding and appreciation of satire, Gruner (1978) found that the higher the student's SAT score, the greater the chance that he/she will understand a satirical piece. A series of studies by Gruner and others tested a wide variety of variables that could influence the understanding of satire but none of them concluded that clearly identifiable factors were affecting understanding. Experimentation using multi-factorial studies and more field and survey research might prove useful to understanding how satire works "in the real world." (Contains 46 references.) (TB)