Humor development: an important cognitive and social skill in the growing child.
The purpose of this article is to describe McGhee's (1979) stages of humor development from 18 months to 12 years as they relate to Piaget's cognitive stages (Papalia, Olds, & Feldman, 2001) and social development. Humor develops in stages just as other aspects of child development. It parallels and enhances physical, cognitive, language, and psychosocial skill attainment (Franzini, 2002; Robinson, 1991). Knowledge of humor development will provide therapists with an additional tool to facilitate communication with their pediatric clients by helping therapists consider children's developmental levels when using humor in therapeutic contexts.
Southam
Marti
M
Occupational Therapy Department, San Jose State University, CA 95192-0059, USA. southam@email.sjsu.edu
D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D012919:Social Behavior; D014925:Wit and Humor as Topic / Q000523:psychology*