Peter McGraw's Blog

MyHumor Code co-author Joel Warner and I were recently invited by Chicago Ideas Week to give a talk on our book. We start the show by setting off hundreds of whoopee cushions.

Check it out:

The post Want to hear hundreds of whoopee cushions? appeared first on Peter McGraw.

By Hillary Anger Elfenbein; Washington University in St. Louis

So your three-year-old comes home and tells you that he wants chocolate for dinner. Now what?

Hillary Anger Elfenbein

If you’re anything like me, you start by trying to sell him on what else you’ve prepared. This approach doesn’t work very well, and then he throws himself on the floor.

When this happened recently, I took a deep breath and reached for inspiration from one of the best advice books out there: “Playful Parenting” by Lawre...

By Hillary Anger Elfenbein; Washington University in St. Louis

So your two-year-old comes home and tells you that he wants chocolate for dinner. Now what?

Hillary Anger Elfenbein

If you’re anything like me, you start by trying to sell him on what else you’ve prepared. This approach doesn’t work very well, and then he throws himself on the floor.

When this happened recently, I took a deep breath and reached for inspiration from one of the best advice books out there: “Playful Parenting” by Lawrenc...

Repost of one of my first and most popular blogs ever.

[In 2010] at Ignite Boulder, Joel Gratz (@gratzo), a famous Boulder meteorologist and creator of weather websites for winter sports enthusiasts (coloradopowderforecast.com) and summer sports enthusiasts (dontgetzapped.com), gave a talk, “Hire a Meteorologist, Not a Stock Broker.” He argued that meteorologists are more accurate than you might think (and certainly more accurate than other people you may rely on for advice, especially your st...

I don’t know of many morality podcasts, probably because I don’t often listen to podcasts, but my friend, David Pizarro has one.

Very Bad Wizards is a collaboration betweenTamler Sommers, a philosopher at the University of Houston, and David Pizarro,a psychologist at Cornell University. We first met at a conference on ethics a few years ago, and have been arguing (and occasionally agreeing) about morality ever since. At some point we realized that our conversations were entertaining (and crazy...

Reposted from last year’s blog.

It’s that time of year. If you are in love, good for you. If you are not, good luck finding love. In any case, a good sense of humor (GSOH) is a highly-desirable quality in lovers and friends. Why?

Two (of many) reasons why a good sense of humor is so important.

1. Happiness: If you and your partner make each other laugh, it means that you will experience more joy in your life. And happy couples are more likely to stay together and have less conflict.

2. Similarity...

Last semester, the Head Honcho of White Girl Salsa, Julie Nirvelli, gave a great talk in my class. Her salsa is outstanding — and she has a brand that stands out in the marketplace.

After class, I asked Julie:

The post Which is more important: White Girl Salsa’s recipe or branding? appeared first on Peter McGraw.

With the Super Bowl and its humorous ads approaching, I have reposted this blog. NOTE: it is a little out of date – the original publication date was in 2011. The original title:

Which is more violent? A) The Super Bowl or B) Super Bowl ads?

The Super Bowl featured numerous injuries, but not all of them occurred on the field. According to a recent paper, violence as a means of humor in advertising is on the rise. Two of the top five rated ads from Super Bowl XLV (2011) featured violence:

#1 (tie...

As part of a writing assignment in my fall consumer behavior course, I asked students to reflect on what they learned. One aspect of the assignment asked students to create a list of the Top Ten Big Ideas for marketers.

I told students that I would publish the best response on my blog. Congratulate Carleigh Maloney. Here is her response.

Top Ten Big Ideas for Marketers

1. Don’t listen to your intuition. It is easy to listen to your gut as the best approach to a marketing problem. Just because y...

When I was visiting the University of Melbourne on sabbatical, I asked Adam Barsky, how people justify doing something unethical at work.

His answer (based on his research):

Read more about it in his recent paper:

Barsky A. (2011) “Investigating the Effects of Moral Disengagement and Participation on Unethical Work Behavior” Journal of Business Ethics, 104, pp.59 – 75.

With massive corruption uncovered in numerous recent corporate scandals, investigating psychological processes underlying unethic...