The primary goal of this project is to provide a summary of extant research regarding humor in the classroom, with an emphasis on identifying and explaining inconsistencies in research findings and offering new directions for future studies in this area. First, the definitions, functions, and main theories of humor are reviewed. Next, the paper explains types of humorous instructional communication. Third, the empirical findings of both the source and receiver perspectives are reviewed. Finally, this paper concludes with advice for educators and suggests potential future research directions for scholars.

A Review of Humor in Educational Settings: Four Decades of Research

Studies including humor in testing were reviewed using performance and self-report criteria. With effects of humor judged using performance (test score) criteria, no supporting main effects were found. However, researchers found interactions with anxiety, gender, stress instructions, and humor appreciation. Humor affected students' perceptions of testing; with self-report criteria, there were supportive main effects and an interaction with humor type and field independence. Findings are discussed in terms of the construct of humor, humor type, format, and criteria measures. Additional topics for discussion include interactions, receiving a humor treatment, problematical subgroups, and implications for research and practice. Would testing be more humane with humor included? Test developers might consider including humor in tests, especially under certain conditions.

Humor in Educational Testing: A Review and Discussion

This study examined the effects of three integrated and contiguous instructional designs using incongruity humor on the recognition and recall of information measured by immediate learning and retention tests. First graders in three classes (N=58) were randomly assigned to one of three humor design treatment groups and a control group. On two successive days prior to receiving a humor treatment, each group received a taped reading of a familiar story, which succeeded in the intended manipulation of subjects to low levels of arousal and interest across all groups. The three humor designs included a humor experience which was immediately followed by a serious presentation of new information (contiguous-immediate design), the same humor experience with a one week postponed presentation of the new information (contiguous-postponed design), and a presentation of the new information with humor interspersed within (integrated design). Results indicated that the two contiguous humor treatment groups had higher immediate memory and retention scores than the control group, particularly with regard to recall of the new information. The integrated humor treatment failed to have its intended humor reaction. Limitations of previous research, which generally does not support the instructional value of humor, are discussed in terms of basic theory and research in humor, motivation, and learning.

A comparative study on the use of humor in the design of instruction

Previous studies on humor in education have focused on the use of humor embedded in the presentation of content material. Some research, however, suggests that humor is an effective tool for increasing divergent thinking and information acquisition if the humor is given prior to the presentation of content material. This study used an experimental design to test if humor given prior to content presentation was more effective in helping students understand and remember information and enjoy the presentation than a control group treatment. Statistical tests did not support either hypothesis. URI http://hdl.handle.net/10919/30668 Collections Doctoral Dissertations [13547] If you believe that any material in VTechWorks should be removed, please see our policy and procedure for Requesting that Material be Amended or Removed. All takedown requests will be promptly acknowledged and investigated. Virginia Tech | University Libraries | Contact Us The effects of humor on cognitive learning in a computer-based environment 

The Effects of Humor on Cognitive Learning in a Computer-Based Environment

Use of Humor in Instruction.

/pdf/the-interaction-of-humor-and-anxiety-in-academic-test-4p9rfohrti.pdf

The Interaction of Humor and Anxiety in Academic Test Situations.

Handle everyday research tasks with reliable, citation-backed results

Your personal Research Agent to handle research tasks with citation-backed results

Popular Tasks used by Researchers

How can I help with your research?

Meet SciSpace

Get more enhanced response by uploading the PDFs you want me to reference.

No relevant PDFs in your library

SciSpace is the AI research assistant for academics. Run systematic literature reviews on 280M+ papers, and write papers with cited sources. Trusted by 1M+ students, PhDs & researchers.

SciSpace | AI for Research

Analyze PDFs

Code & Manuscripts

Funding & Grants

Literature & Patents

Medical & Clinical Data

Systematic Review

Visualize & Present

Web & Data

Build a Google Scholar-like website for your research.

Build a website

Create charts and images for your research

Create a Chart

Write a paper for submission to a journal

Draft a manuscript

Patent Search

Design eye-catching scientific posters in minutes.

Scientific Poster Generation

Systematic Literature Review

One task is running at the moment. Your messages will be shown right after.

Drag and drop or click here to browse

Loved by <highlight>1 million+</highlight> researchers

Extract a list of specific topics and their sources from unstructured text

Topics

Compare and analyze relevant papers that matches with your search

Papers

Get insights from PDFs and bookmarked papers from your library

My library

Recent searches

Try searching for:

Catch AI-generated content in scholarly and non-scholarly content

{ai} Detector

Ai Writer

Get PDF Summaries, highlighted text explanations 

Chat with PDF

Effortlessly create in-text citations and bibliographies in APA and 2,500 other formats

Citation generator

Get explanations, summaries, and answers on academic papers

Ease up your research workflow with {scispace}'s cohort of exciting AI tools

Elevate your academic writing skills and convey your ideas the way you want

Paraphraser

Explore our range of reading and writing tools

Your file is being prepared and should be ready in a few minutes. If it's a large file, it might take a bit longer. You can close this window, and we'll email you the file when it's done.

You have reached a maximum limit of <strong>{limit}</strong> columns in the table. Remove at least <strong>1</strong> column to add or create another one.

Alan S. Brown

Author Tools

Chat about Author

Papers

The Interaction of Humor and Anxiety in Academic Test Situations.