'Daily Show' Watchers are 'Deep', says research

‘Daily show’ watchers might not be the ‘stoned hippies’ that Bill O’Reilley makes them out to be: in a bit of psychological research conducted at the University of Delaware, ‘Daily Show’ watchers were found to be deep.

Or, as Dannagal Young, assistant professor of communication and lead researcher said, "there is a segment of the political satire audience that is motivated by a deeper level of processing." That sounds much more scientific, don’t you think?

The study sampled 398 college students about their tv preferences. Paying special attention to political satire, she found that many who watch political satire do so out of a "need for cognition," which is psychologist speak for liking to debate and ponder new ideas and philosophies.

These viewers watch not for the comedy or the information, though those are probably added benefits; rather, these people watch for context. As Young explains, "It's not about capacity to think. "It's about their enjoyment of thinking."

Previous research on political satire has shown that the jokey nature of the medium helps get past people’s built-in defenses against new ideas. The very same people who would get outraged at a journalist making a statement would be more willing to consider it if said humorously.

This lets satire programs tackle topics that they otherwise might not be able to, and is at least part of the appeal for some viewers. As Young put it,

“...people coming to the show looking for satirical analysis of political information may exhibit more long-lasting shifts in attitude."

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