YOURE OUT OF YOUR MIND - HUMOR AS A FACE-SAVING STRATEGY DURING NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINATIONS

This article presents a sociolinguistic analysis of humor as a face-sa ving device in a memory clinic. Data for this article were transcripts of audiotaped clinical examinations between 4 clinicians and 17 patie nts, conducted at the Memory and Alzheimer's Clinic at the University of California, San Francisco. The study focused on the functions of hu mor and the complexity involved in examining those functions. Four asp ects of humor were examined: (a) who initiates humor, (b) what topics the humor is based on, (c) what the function of the humor is, and (d) who the focus of the humor is. Results indicated that dementia patient s initiated a greater number of humor exchanges than did clinicians or third-party observers. In particular, patients initiated a greater nu mber of a specific kind, called dominant humor, with which the initiat or controls the interaction. In spite of the power differential betwee n patients and clinicians, dementia patients asserted some dominance o ver a face-threatening situation. These findings imply the need for fu rther research on nurturing, as well as communicative training of fami ly and caregivers of dementia patients to enhance successful communica tion and thus successful life experiences for these patients.