The Effect of Humour on Learning in an Educational Setting

Authors: [1] Tanvi Sambrani [2] Sneha Mani [3] Prof. Maureen Almeida [4] Ewgeni Jakubovski, MA

Pages: 1-4

Abstract:

Humour is seen to have largely positive effects on learning, but these effects are not left uncontested. Furthermore, the fact that humour is culture specific can limit the generalizability of studies. The current paper, thus, attempts to determine if humour can have an important role in the cultural context of India. The current study investigated the effect of humour on learning in a real-world educational setting. 56 participants from the 8th grade of the same high school were enlisted for the study, and divided into two groups in a classroom setting- one group receiving humorous material and the other group receiving non-humorous material. All content was displayed via slideshows spanning 5 subtopics of the school subject of ‘English’. All content was equated in terms of visual imagery and amount of information displayed. An intervening task of solving math problems was introduced between viewing the content and answering the post-test. Results were obtained using a pre-post design. Data was analysed via 2 sample independent t-tests and bivariate correlations. Results showed that the material presented in a humorous manner is remembered better than other equivalent visual nonhumorous material. Secondly, exposure to humorous material is also correlated with better engagement with the material, and positive affect. These results draw attention to the need for further, culture-specific research investigations in the field of humour, as it can prove to be a very effective learning tool.