title: Early humour production.
abstract: The current studies explored early humour as a complex socio-cognitive phenomenon by examining 2- and 3-year-olds' humour production with their parents. We examined whether children produced novel humour, whether they cued their humour, and the types of humour produced. Forty-seven parents were interviewed, and videotaped joking with their children. Other parents (N= 113) completed a survey. Parents reported children copy jokes during the first year of life, and produce novel jokes from 2 years. In play sessions, 3-year-olds produced mostly novel humorous acts; 2-year-olds produced novel and copied humorous acts equally frequently. Parents reported children smile, laugh, and look for a reaction when joking. In play sessions, 2- and 3-year-olds produced these behaviours more when producing humorous versus non-humorous acts. In both parent reports and play sessions, they produced novel object-based (e.g., underwear on head) and conceptual humour (e.g., 'pig says moo') and used wrong labels humorously (e.g., calling a cat a dog). Thus, parent report and child behaviour both confirm that young children produce novel humorous acts, and share their humour by smiling, laughing, and looking for a reaction.
authors.affiliation: Psychology School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, UK. elena.hoicka@stir.ac.uk
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hoicka
authors.forename: Nameera
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Akhtar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002652:Child Behavior; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D032882:Comprehension; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D007845:Laughter / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents; D010988:Play and Playthings / Q000523:psychology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D012951:Socialization; D014743:Videotape Recording; D014925:Wit and Humor as Topic / Q000523:psychology*