Are Funny Groups Good At Solving Problems?

Abstract

A two-part study was conducted to determine if groups producing many different instances of laughing and joking were better at problem solving than groups displaying fewer of these behaviors. In the first phase of the study, nominally high, medium, and low wit individuals were selected to form six all-male and six all-female groups. These groups were then evaluated during a second phase of the study for the amount of joking and laughing produced as well as forgroup performance on a simple anagrams task and on a more complex decision task requiring an optimal ordering of alternatives. Initial results revealed that cross-phase predictability for humorous behaviors was low for male groups and somewhat better for female groups. For this reason, behaviorally high, medium, and low humor groups were then defined in terms of the amount of laughing and joking produced during phase 2. When total seconds of laughter was used, significant differences favoring high over medium and low groups were found for the number of anagrams produced but not for the more complex ordering task. When number of jokes was used to rank groups, no clear effect was obtained for either task. The different roles laughing and joking play in group problem solving and the methodological difficulties involved in the cross-situation selection of witty individuals are discussed.