Quick bits

To have a more productive meeting with the members of your gardening club, try cracking a joke: A little levity does more for fostering camaraderie than you might think, say researchers in the Journal of Applied Psychology. They analyzed videos of coworkers in meetings and found that when one person got colleagues to laugh, others in the room tended to be more open to asking questions, exchanging fresh ideas and supporting one another. That’s because a more playful group dynamic encourages people to entertain new perspectives, making it easier to collaborate.