Humor Comprehension Research Articles

Verbal Humor in Gifted Students and Students in the General Population: A Comparison of Spontaneous Mirth and Comprehension

The spontaneous mirth response and comprehension of verbal humor were compared in gifted students and students from the general population. A total of 120 students in grades four, six, and eight participated in the study. A twenty-item instrument containing age-appropriate riddles, jokes, puns, selections of satire, and nonhumorous items was developed by the researcher to gather data. The results indicated that the gifted subjects performed significantly higher in spontaneous mirth response and comprehension than the general population group. This finding lends support to the assumption that gifted children noticeably have a “good sense of humor,” a characteristic often attributed to them as a group. No significant differences were discovered between either group with respect to gender, and grade level explained only part of the difference in the scores between the groups. The gifted group also had higher mean scores for spontaneous mirth response and comprehension on the pun and satire items. On the basis of the findings, implications for classroom use and teacher preparation are addressed.

The role of cognitive factors in children’s metaphor and humor comprehension

The role of cognitive factors in children’s metaphor and humor comprehension

LD and Nonhandicapped Boys' Comprehension of Cartoon Humor

One aspect of social perception often noted as deficient in learning disabled individuals is an appropriate sense of humor. The purpose of this study was to examine the cartoon humor comprehension of learning disabled and non-handicapped boys in two age groups, 8- and 12-year-olds. The cognitive structure rather than the content of humor was the focus. In addition to examining comprehension of cartoon humor between groups and across age levels, the relationship between comprehension and appreciation measures was studied. Significant main effects were found indicating a developmental lag for the learning disabled subjects. Moderate correlations were established between comprehension and appreciation measures.

Comprehension of humorous and nonhumorous materials by left and right brain-damaged patients

Right hemisphere-damaged (RHD) and left hemisphere-damaged (LHD) aphasic patients were tested on a nonverbal cartoon completion task that included a humorous (Joke) and a nonhumorous (Story) condition. In both conditions, RHD patients performed worse than LHD patients. More importantly, the qualitative difference between the errors produced by the two groups suggests that right and left hemisphere brain damage impairs different components of narrative ability. RHD patients showed a preserved sensitivity to the surprise element of humor, and a diminished ability to establish coherence. Conversely, LHD patients, when they erred, showed an impaired sensitivity to the surprise element of humor, and a preserved ability to establish coherence by integrating content across parts of a narrative. These results suggest that the observed humor comprehension deficits of RHD patients result specifically from right hemisphere disease and not from brain damage irrespective of locus. The performances of the RHD and LHD patient groups together support a separation of narrative ability from the traditional aspects of language ability typically disrupted in aphasia.

Measuring Humor Ability: Revision and Construct Validation of the Humor Perceptiveness Test

The revision of Feingold's Humor Perceptiveness Test and its construct validation are reported. The revision quantifies two components of humor comprehension, memory for jokes and humor-reasoning ability. The test items are in the form of joke completions (e.g., “Take my wife——–!”). Reliability coefficients (split-half, Kuder-Richardson, alternate form) of the test were .84 to .93. The Humor Perceptiveness Test-Revised was related to humor appreciation (interest in comedy movies) and to scores on a short form WAIS, the correlates varying as a function of intelligence. Scores on the humor measure correlated only with intelligence for a subsample of dull subjects but with both intelligence and humor appreciation for brighter examinees. The revised Humor Perceptiveness Test may be of use to researchers.

The Comprehension of Verbal Humor by Visually Impaired Children

This study compared the ability of 51 visually impaired and 51 sighted children, aged 7#15, to comprehend verbal humor presented to them in the form of jokes and nonjokes. It found that visually impaired children seem to comprehend humor as well as do their sighted peers.

The Relation of Intelligence and Task Difficulty to Appreciation of Humor

Summary Three predictions were generated from Suls' model of the appreciation of verbal humor: (a) intelligence is positively related to comprehension of humor; (b) difficulty of comprehension is positively related to appreciation; (c) intelligence and task difficulty interact in humor appreciation. One hundred sixty-five male college students (IQ estimated from the Vocabulary subtest of the WAIS) viewed cartoons in each of two conditions: (a) Ss rated captioned cartoons for funniness; (b) Ss selected one of four captions and rated the combination for funniness. IQ was found to be positively related to comprehension. Both positive and negative relationships between appreciation and task difficulty were found depending upon how task difficulty was defined. There was no significant interaction between intelligence and difficulty level. Complexity was positively related to appreciation, while difficulty of processing was negatively related to appreciation.

Children's Comprehension and Appreciation of Verbal Jokes in Relation to Conceptual Tempo

BRODZINSKY, DAvm M. Children's Comprehension and Appreciation of Verbal Jokes in Relation to Conceptual Tempo. CmLD DEVELOPMENT, 1977 48, 960-967. Reflective, impulsive, fast-accurate, and slow-inaccurate fourth-grade children were presented with tape-recorded jokes containing different types of linguistic ambiguity. Humor measures employed were children's spontaneous and prompted comprehension of the jokes as well as mirth and funniness ratings. Results indicated that while reflective and fast-accurate children generally displayed the greatest spontaneous comprehension of the humor, it was the impulsive and slow-inaccurate children who showed the highest level of mirth. Further, only the reflective children showed differential mirth as a function of joke complexity. Finally, both humor comprehension and appreciation varied in relation to the type of linguistic ambiguity underlying the joke.

The effect of test content and context on the anxiety-intelligence relationship.

The effect of test content and context on the anxiety-intelligence relationship was investigated by group-administering an intelligence measure presumably free of anxiety provoking cues, comprehension of cartoons, and several conventional intelligence and achievement measures to 177 boys and girls in Grades 4-6 in greater Tel-Aviv. Since the humor comprehension intelligence measure was as negatively correlated with test anxiety as were the conventional measures, it was concluded that trait anxiety is not a sufficient explanation of the anxiety-intelligence relationship.

Age Differences in Humor Comprehension and Appreciation in Old Age

Ninety-six subjects in three age groups (50-59, 60-69, 70-79) who resided at home were tested on their appreciation and comprehension of 12 conservation and 12 nonconservation jokes. The conservation jokes depended on the Piagetian concepts of conservation of mass, weight, and volume for their comprehension. Cognitive ability of the subjects on the three conservation tasks was also tested. Appreciation increased with age and comprehension decreased with age for both types of jokes. The ability to conserve volume declined with age. Among conservers of volume, appreciation of conservation of volume jokes increased with age; among nonconservers, it tended to decrease. The study provided some support to the hypothesis that the cognitive perceptual theory of humor applies in old age as it does in childhood, with appreciation depending on a match between ability level and the cognitive demand of the joke.

Creativity and sense of humor.

In a study on cognitive and personality structure and sense of humor, Rouff (1973) investigated the relationship between creativity and humor comprehension, among other variables. Creativity was defined in terms of a linking together of disparate cognitive elements (Mednick, 1962; Mednick & Mednick, 1967). Comprehending jokes was viewed as requiring the ability to link disparities or incongruities-in the sense of reconciling them in order to get the joke (Koestler, 19G4; Maier, 1932). From such observations it was predicted that scores on a creativity rest and on a humor comprehension measure would be positively related. Twenty cartoons, with and without captions, and Mednick's Remote Associates Test were administered to 108 Temple University undergraduates enrolled in introductory psychology classes. Ss were required to write explanations of the point or points of each of the cartoons. These explanations were scored (after McGhee, 1968) on the basis of the degree to which they indicated that S had grasped the main disparity or incongruity comprising the point of a cartoon, and had explained why the disparity aroused humor. The Pearsonian correlation coefficient between comprehension of humor and RAT scores was significant (I. = 0.37, p < .001). When the effects of intelligence, i.e., SAT scores, were partialled out, the association remained. (rs between humor comprehension and creativity scores with Verbal, Quantitative, and Total scores held constant, respectively were: 0.30, p < .05; 0.37, p < .01; 0.33, p < .01.) These results strongly suggest that comprehension of humor and creative thinking are related and that they have a common basis in the ability to link disparities. This relationship would appear to transcend intelligence.

THE ROLE OF OPERATIONAL THINKING IN CHILDREN'S COMPREHENSION AND APPRECIATION OF HUMOR

McGHEE, PAUL E. The Role of Operational Thinking in Children's Comprehension and Appreciation of Humor. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1971, 42, 733-744. The importance of operational thinking for comprehension and appreciation of three different sets of humor stimuli was studied. Each set involved a different experimental task: (a) arranging sequential cartoons in the correct order (Set I); (b) choosing the funniest pictorial completion for cartoons (Set II); (c) choosing the funniest caption (Set III). 5-, 7-, and 9-year-old boys served as Ss. For 7-year-olds, acquisition of operational thinking was significantly positively related to humor comprehension and number of correct choices for Sets I and II, and to giving interpretive (vs. descriptive) humor explanations for Sets I and III. For 9-year-olds, more cognitively advanced Ss showed greater humor comprehension for Set III and more frequent correct choices for Sets I and II. Cognitive development was not significantly related to humor appreciation at any age level.

The Role of Operational Thinking in Children's Comprehension and Appreciation of Humor

The Role of Operational Thinking in Children's Comprehension and Appreciation of Humor

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT AND CHILDREN'S COMPREHENSION OF HUMOR

MCGHEE, PAUL E. Cognitive Development and Children's Comprehension of Humor. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1971, 42, 123-138. This study investigated the relationship between children's level of cognitive functioning (according to Piaget's theoretical framework) and their comprehension and appreciation of humor based on violation of cognitive expectancies. A distinction was drawn between novelty and incongruity humor, differing in the nature of expectancy violation represented. The general hypothesis tested was that operational thinking is necessary for comprehension of incongruity humor but is not necessary for comprehension of novelty humor. The Ss were 30 boys at each of 3 age levels: 5, 7, and 9. The above hypothesis was confirmed only for the 7-year-old group. Also, for the incongruity humor (but not novelty humor), operational thinking was found to be an important factor in the ability to give interpretive, as opposed to descriptive, explanations. Level of cognitive development was not significantly related to humor appreciation for either novelty or incongruity humor. Analyses of age differences indicated consistent significant increases in comprehension with increasing age for all humor stimuli. Similar analyses for humor appreciation yielded no significant age differences.

Cognitive Development and Children's Comprehension of Humor

Cognitive Development and Children's Comprehension of Humor