Children's Humor Research Articles

Фонетические средства создания словесного юмора (на материале рассказов для детей Н. Носова)

The article provides a linguistic analysis of verbal humour in children’s literature. The paper focuses on studying phonetic techniques to create humorous effect. The research material includes the stories from N. Nosov’s book “Rat-tat-tat”. The researcher aims to identify the most frequent phonetic means, to describe their artistic and figurative peculiarities, to determine their functions in realization of the comical, to reveal their story-formative role. Relying on the analysis, the researcher for the first time identifies three aspects of humour realization in N. Nosov’s works: intonational and linguistic, situational (contextual) and communicative.

Humor in children's discourse: A case study of a bilingual child (Brazilian Portuguese and German)

Based on a dialogic-discursive approach according to the ideas of Bakhtin and the Circle, this article aims to analyze the humour data of a bilingual child, L., 9 years old, Brazilian Portuguese and German-speaker, who was born in Germany, but moved to Brazil at the age of 1 year and 6 months. Our corpus consists of footage of the child in everyday situations, in which she interacts separately with interlocutors in both languages she can speak. Our goal is to unravel whether L. produces and understands humour in both languages and which language mechanisms lead to such understanding and production. In addition, we intend to verify the different situations that raise humour in the daily life of this child, identifying some common types of humour in her speech. The results show that L. has greater "security" and fluency in the language in which she has more "input": Brazilian Portuguese (BP), and this may influence her relationship with languages and her production of humorous discourses.

Relationship between types of humour and stress response and well‐being among children in Japan

This study examined the relationship between three types of children's humour (aggressive, self‐defeating, and playful) and the children's stress response and well‐being in the Japanese context, where a collectivistic culture is prevalent. To do so, 500 study participants (250 elementary and 250 junior high school students) were recruited. The participants reported the types of humour, stress responses, and level of well‐being that they experienced. After correlation analysis, aggressive humour and playful humour showed a positive correlation with stress responses; in addition, aggressive humour showed a negative correlation with well‐being. Self‐defeating humour showed a negative correlation with stress responses and a positive correlation with well‐being. We also conducted a cluster analysis using the scores for the three types of humour, analysing four groups: “aggressive humourists” (respondents who demonstrated above‐average aggressive humour and scored average for all other humours), “nonhumourists” (below‐average humour in all areas), “self‐deprecating humourists” (above‐average self‐defeating humour, below‐average aggressive humour, and average playful humour), and “multiple humourists” (above‐average humour in all areas). Upon comparing the results of stress responses and well‐being scores among the four groups, we found that self‐deprecating humourists reported the highest level of well‐being. These results show that in collectivistic cultures, self‐defeating humour may be adaptive.

유아의 유머 이해력과 유사-교사 관계에서 사회적 유능성의 매개효과

유아의 유머 이해력과 유사-교사 관계에서 사회적 유능성의 매개효과

'H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, PEE! Get it? Pee!': Siblings' shared humour in childhood.

Humour is a central feature of social interactions in childhood that has received little attention. In a sample of 86 7-year-old children (M age=7.82years, SD=0.80), we investigated patterns and individual differences in spontaneous humour observed during free play with their older (M age=9.55years, SD=0.88) or their younger sibling (M age=5.87years, SD=0.96). We coded children's instances, categories, and responses to humour. We investigated the nature of children's humour on the dyadic and individual level. Humour was common, and siblings' production of humour was highly interdependent between play partners. Dyadic humour differed according to structural features of the sibling relationship (age, gender composition), and 7-year-old focal children's humour varied according to gender. This study contributes to knowledge regarding the dyadic nature of children's humour and individual patterns of humour beyond the preschool years. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Humour is an integral part of children's close and intimate interactions. Children produce humour from an early age and increasingly produce more complex humour as they develop. Few studies examine children's humour with siblings and beyond the fourth year of life. What does this study add? Children's humour during free play with siblings was common and highly dyadic. Sibling dyads' humour differed according to age and gender composition. Seven-year-old boys produced more humour than girls.

Discovery of tear biomarkers in children with chronic non-infectious anterior uveitis: a pilot study

BackgroundBiomarkers in easily obtained specimens that accurately predict uveitis in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) are needed. Aqueous humor has been studied for biomarkers, but is not routinely available. We evaluated tears from children with chronic anterior uveitis (CAU) for biomarkers reported in aqueous humor.In this pilot study, we used Schirmer strips to collect tears from seven children (nine eyes); three children had JIA- associated uveitis (JIA-U) and four had idiopathic disease (I-CAU). Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was used to identify and quantify tear proteins. The Mann-Whitney U test identified differential tear protein expression between children with JIA-U and those with I-CAU.ResultsS100A9, LAP3, TTR, MIF, sCD14, S100A8, and SAA1 were detected in tears of all children; the same cytokines have been reported in aqueous humor of children with JIA-U. Tears from children with JIA-U had higher expression of proteins associated with inflammatory arthritis (SEMA3G, TIMP1, HEXB, ERN1, and SAA1) than tears from those with I-CAU. In addition, we found higher expression of sCD14, S100A8, and SAA1, but lower expression of S100A9, LAP3, TTR, and MIF, in tears from children with JIA-U compared to tears from those with I-CAU.ConclusionsTears contain similar cytokine profiles to aqueous humor in children with CAU and may be a clinically useful source of disease biomarkers. Tears from children with JIA-U also contain cytokines associated with inflammatory arthritis; furthermore, differential expression of other tear proteins as well may provide clues to intrinsic differences between JIA-U and I-CAU, despite their similar clinical phenotypes.

TOWARDS A METAPRAGMATIC DESCRIPTION OF IDIOM MEANING

This paper is part of the ongoing research projects The Development of Figurative Awareness during the Primary School Period: Humor and Phraseology (FFI2016-76047-P, AEI-FEDER/EU) and Metapragmatics of Children's Humor: Acquisition, Gender Perspective and Applications (GRE14-19, University of Alicante).

Longitudinal associations between younger children's humour styles and psychosocial adjustment.

Whilst a multitude of studies have examined links between different styles of humour and aspects of adjustment, longitudinal research is noticeably lacking. Following a study which identified bidirectional associations between humour styles and psychosocial adjustment in older children, the current research aimed to investigate these associations in younger children. In total, 413 children aged 8-11years completed the humour styles questionnaire for younger children (HSQ-Y) alongside measures of psychosocial adjustment in both the autumn and the summer over the course of a school year. Findings across the school year suggested that children's adjustment may impact significantly on their use of different styles of humour. Further longitudinal research over a longer time period would now be beneficial to further increase our understanding of the associations between humour styles and adjustment throughout development. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Research has identified associations between children's humour styles and psychosocial adjustment. Research with older children has also identified longitudinal associations. What does this study add? This is the first study to identify longitudinal associations between humour styles and adjustment in younger children. This allows for stronger statements to be made about causal relationships.

Taking children’s humor seriously: A study of humor in children diagnosed with obesity and the medicalization of body weight

Within the social studies of children and childhood, children’s humor is an under-explored area. In this article, I explore the use of humor by children diagnosed with severe obesity while attending long-term rehabilitation together with their families. In the children’s use of humor, I found a transition from the use of “fat jokes” to “biopedagogical humor,” which involved jokes about instructions related to food and physical activity as conveyed by members of the rehabilitation team. I interpret their humor as signifying how they were affected by the biopedagogical messages involved in treatment and how they started self-monitoring their food intake and physical activity. I claim that their humor also can point to a process of medicalization of their condition, where their understanding of themselves as “fat” was replaced by “I suffer from obesity.”

WHAT'S SO FUNNY? A COMPARATIVE LOOK AT THE HUMOROUS INTENTIONS OF THE TEXTBOOK AND THE STUDENT

A section of a school textbook on literary reading “Jokingly and seriously” was compared with the written memories of 3rd-grade students of “Lyceum № 29” (Omsk) about the situations in which they laughed. The objects of comparison were such aspects of humorous discourse as the object of the ridicule, the tone of the comic, values and concepts; the presence/absence of humor in the linguistic component. General research approach is the discourse analysis. A positive correlation between age features of the humor, the humorous intentions of the textbook and interview data were revealed, which allows to ascertain the productivity of learning strategies. Spontaneous laughter communication is dominated by good-natured laughter over the animals, the concepts of causeless laughter, wit, intelligence, being-grown-up, etc., which corresponds to “student humor”. On the other hand, more efforts are needed to develop children's linguistic humor (language skill games) and the attention to situations in which laughter can produce conflict communication.

Children's humor types and psychosocial adjustment

Attempting to understand how humor styles relate to psychological adjustment by correlating these two constructs fails to address the emerging understanding that individuals use combinations of humor styles, and that different combinations may be differentially associated with psychosocial adjustment. Indeed humor types have been identified in adult samples (Galloway, 2010; Leist & Müller, 2013). The main aim of the study was to explore whether similar humor types are evident at a younger age and whether these types can be distinguished in terms of children's psychological and social well-being. Participants were 1234 adolescents (52% female) aged 11–13years, drawn from six secondary schools in England. Self-reports of humor styles and psychosocial adjustment were collected at two time points, 6months apart. A cluster analysis was performed using the child humor styles scores at Time 1. Four humor types were identified: ‘Interpersonal Humorists’ (high on aggressive and affiliative humor, low on self-defeating and self-enhancing humor), ‘Self-Defeaters’ (high self-defeating humor, low on the other three), ‘Humor Endorsers’ (high on all four humor styles), and ‘Adaptive Humorists’ (high on self-enhancing and affiliative humor, but low on aggressive and self-defeating humor). ‘Self-Defeaters’ scored highest in terms of maladjustment across all of the outcomes measured. Our analyses support the presence of distinctive humor types in childhood and indicate that these are related to psychosocial adjustment.

Humor in Children's Picture Books

AbstractHumorous literature for children has been around since Randolph Caldecott first started writing and illustrating picturebooks. In the article, the authors try to understand what makes picturebooks funny and discuss ways to use humor in the classroom. Many examples of humorous picturebooks are cited to provide teachers with resources for their classrooms.

The Relationship Between Peer Victimization and Children's Humor Styles: It's No Laughing Matter!

AbstractThis study assessed the concurrent and prospective (fall to spring) associations between peer victimization and four humor styles, two of which are adaptive (affiliative and self‐enhancing) and two maladaptive (aggressive and self‐defeating). Participants were 1234 adolescents (52 percent female) aged 11–13 years, drawn from six secondary schools inEngland. Self‐reports and peer reports of peer victimization were collected, as were self‐reports of humor styles. In cross‐sectional analyses, peer victimization was associated with all four humor styles, most strongly with self‐defeating and affiliative humor. Across the school year, peer victimization was associated with an increase in self‐defeating humor and a decrease in affiliative humor (and vice‐versa). These results have implications for models of humor development and how we understand the continuity of peer victimization.

Kidding around: children, comedy, and social media

This essay considers the implications of social media technologies – specifically, Vine – for comedy studies, childhood studies, and digital culture. Whereas the child as producer and consumer is often overlooked in the humanities, this author contends that digital technologies radically liberate children to become producers of original content that can be easily and widely circulated around the world. Through case studies of three young producer-participants on Vine – Lillian Powers, Nash Grier, and Marissa Mayne – I consider the complexity of children's humor, the need to consider real children in childhood studies, and the possible consequences on our understandings of authorship, distribution, and consumption.

Need for Humor Scale: Validation with French Children

The Need for Humor (NFH) Scale measures the tendency to produce and seek out humor. This personality trait affects the processing and recall of humorous material. This study is a transcultural adaptation and validation of the NFH Scale with French participants, including 100 university students (Study 1a) and 160 school-aged children (Study 1b). Results from iterative exploratory analyses and confirmatory analyses revealed a bi-dimensional structure with satisfactory factor loadings. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were also found to be adequate (Cronbach's alphas = .79 and .68; test-retest rs = .87 and .82). Children were tested on a preference task for humorous vs non-humorous print advertisements; children with high NFH scores responded more positively to humorous advertisements (Study 2). The French NFH Scale can be used as a valid and reliable tool for assessing need for humor in children and its effects on responses to print advertisements.

Development of a Humor Styles Questionnaire for children

AbstractThe adult Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ) assumes that humor can be both adaptive (“self-enhancing” and “affiliative”) and maladaptive (“aggressive” and “self-defeating”). The aim of the research was to develop a reliable and valid scale to assess adaptive and maladaptive humor in children – an adaptation of the adult HSQ. Over two studies, 1187 UK school children aged 9–15 years completed the 24-item adapted child HSQ. In the second study the children completed the questionnaire on two occasions, one week apart, and also measures of psychosocial adjustment. For children aged 11 years and upwards there was a clear four factor structure to the questionnaire with all sub-scales showing acceptable levels of internal and test re-test reliability. As predicted, affiliative humor and self-defeating humor were associated with all four measures of psychosocial adjustment. Aggressive humor was associated with lower anxiety and higher self-perceived social competence for boys, and with lower global self-worth and higher depression for girls. Longitudinal research is needed to disentangle the causal pathways and examine further the links between children's humor styles and their social competence.

From Ice Age to Madagascar: Appreciation of slapstick humor in children with Asperger's syndrome

AbstractThe aim of the present study was to examine whether children with Asperger's syndrome differ from typically developing children in the appreciation of and behavioral responses to simple slapstick type humor, in which cognitive requirements that are commonly impaired in autism spectrum disorders are reduced to a minimum. Short slapstick scenes and matched non-humorous control scenes were extracted from popular movies to produce an appropriate humor assessment material. Twenty-four boys with Asperger's syndrome (5 to 14 years) and 24 age-matched typically developed controls were tested. The results indicated that children with Asperger's syndrome enjoy humorous material as much as healthy children do, if the humor elements are simple and the incongruence can be perceived independently from theory of mind requirements, inferential demands, or language abilities. However, similar funniness ratings and behavioral expressions of mirth to the humorous scenes, but relatively higher values in response to the non-humorous scenes, suggested that the autistic children did not discriminate non-humorous from humorous stimuli as sensitively as the typically developing children did. Moreover, in autistic children, the outwards displays of emotion did not match their reports of subjective amusement. This dissociation may relate to the social interaction and communication difficulties in autism spectrum disorders.

Klart slut varulvstjut – den litterära pojkhumorn och exemplet Bert

“Literary boy homour and the books about Bert as an example”. In this article I outline the roots of boy humour in children’s literature. In Swedish tradition this category is intimately associated with the genre “tjuvpojksboken”(stories about young rascals). I argue that one important condition for the development of a humour of this kind, are the concept of the boy as a gentle savage, a central character in boyology. A discourse comprising descriptive and prescriptive writing on boyhood across a variety of genres. In Making American Boys (2004) Kenneth B. Kidd shows how the boyologists of the early twentieth century reworked themes and tropes they picked up from the American Boy Book (like Aldrich, Twain, and Tarkington); foremost the idea of the wildness of boys as a necessary step in becoming a man. Another important condition for boy humour is that the stories are told from the boy’s perspective, which in turn makes way for different boy’s discourses, such as “slanguage”. After examining the issue from a historical point-of-view, I turn to Anders Jacobsson’s and Sören Olsson’s popular books about the boy Bert (23 books between 1987–2010), with focus on the first title Berts dagbok [Bert’s diary]. Here I concentrate on three characteristic features: the carnivalesque degrading of the adult world, the grotesque realism (the world interpreted through the boy’s bodily experience), and play on words, such as rhymes, puns, jokes and deliberately misreading of foreign and difficult words. My point is that the readers (boys) through channels like this, learn the humorous discourse and that it creates intimate bonds between the narrator and the readers.Keywords: boy humour, boyology, bad boy books, Anders Jacobsson & Sören Olsson

The Relation of Humor and Child Development: Social, Adaptive, and Emotional Aspects

A sense of humor has been linked to social competence, popularity, and adaptability. The purpose of this review was to investigate the extant research in humor in childhood. Emerging work on the neuroanatomy of humor was discussed with findings of right hemispheric involvement for the comprehension and appreciation of humor for the affective network and the left hemisphere for cognitive understanding. These findings are intriguing when examining humor functioning in children with various disabilities, particularly the right hemisphere for children with autistic spectrum disorders or nonverbal learning disabilities. Examination of research in humor in childhood disabilities found most articles on humor in children with autistic spectrum disorder or mental retardation, with few to none in learning disabilities or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It was concluded that further study is needed to understand humor in children with disabilities and that such understanding will assist with interventions.

Humour appreciation and comprehension in children with intellectual disability

Data on typically developing children show that humour development starts from an early age. Studies investigating humour in children with intellectual disability (ID) are few and have generally focused on identifying differences between this population and other groups of children. This study focuses on children with ID as a heterogeneous group and seeks to answer the following questions: (1) what kinds of humour do children with ID appreciate most in a video cartoon? (2) How does the mode of presentation of jokes influence humour comprehension? This study examines humour appreciation and comprehension in school-aged children (n = 9; chronological age: 7-11 years) with mild/moderate ID. Specific tools were developed to explore each aspect. Participants rated short scenes from a video cartoon to show their appreciation for different kinds of humour. A set of video-recorded jokes, with different modes of presentation, were used in the comprehension task. The greatest appreciation was expressed for physical and visual humour. Non-specific scenes (i.e. scenes with no particularly funny elements) were also rated highly. Jokes presented with gesture were understood more than jokes told without supports. These differences in comprehension, arising from supported/unsupported jokes, were statistically significant within the group studied. The context of humour (e.g. being part of a video cartoon) is important in determining what children with ID find funny. The significant difference in comprehension brought about by a change in mode of presentation (i.e. supported/unsupported joke telling) suggests that humour comprehension can be facilitated.