Comparison of aggression and incongruity as factors in children's judgments of humor.
It was hypothesized that both aggression and incongruity are variables that will positively influence preschool children's judgments of humorous incidents. Past research has shown the influence of incongruity on humor only for school-age children, and--with the exception of studies of children's television viewing--the allegedly "antisocial" variable of aggression has been ignored. Two hundred and thirty boys and girls from ages three to eight each made six paired comparison judgments as to which of two brief incidents was funnier. The incidents were produced by the E manipulating either one or two hand puppets with or without accompanying dialogue. At all ages children significantly preferred aggressive and incongruous incidents to neutral incidents. When aggressive and incongruous nonverbal incidents were paired, there was no significant preference. Two major conclusions were reached: (a) Though neglected in the developmental theory of humor, aggression is an early occurring and potent factor in children's humor; (b) The clear-cut results obtained from preschoolers argue for the usefulness of cognitive choice as against such observational measures as smiling and laughing.
D000374:Aggression; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D014796:Visual Perception; D014925:Wit and Humor as Topic