Use of humour in medical teaching

Abstract

Humour, whether considered cognitively or affectively, is complex and ubiquitous. It is claimed to have adjunctive value in clinical medicine. Claims regarding its effects also indicate that humour can make a valuable contribution to the educational process. Humour is understood to reduce anxiety and stress, build confidence, improve productivity, heighten interest, reduce boredom and encourage divergent thinking, yet it has been difficult to establish positive value for humour in helping student learning. Approximately equal numbers of studies of the effects of humour on student learning have been negative and positive. Informal observation suggests its use in medical teaching is widespread yet little reference is made to the use of humour in teaching in the medical literature. Research into the role of humour in medical teaching is made difficult by the complex nature of the production, perception and appreciation of humour, by the difficulty in contriving humour in controlled settings, by the importance of the setting as a component of the humour, and by the difficulties in establishing outcome measures for humour interventions. Given these difficulties it is understandable that medical teachers might use humour but are unlikely to study it or write about it.