The development of a humor measure was described in a brief report in this journal. In that report, a series of suitable congruous and incongruous pictures were developed with a community sample of children. The findings of that study were consistent with those reported by others (Chik, 2001; Masten, 1989; Schultz, 1972), indicating that incongruity is an essential component of humor appreciation. With a larger (n = 140) and more representative sample, we embarked on a follow-up validation study. The findings of the present study provide further support for the universality of the incongruity as an essential component of humor appreciation across age and cultures.
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Twenty-one in-service early childhood students participated in a teaching practicum in Australia as part of the final year of a Bachelor of Arts in Hong Kong. Students spent two weeks visiting a university and early childhood settings in Australia. The university based component of the program included workshops and discussions with lecturing staff located in both the Australian and Hong Kong universities. Students were asked to complete written statements about 'What is children's learning?' before and after their practicum experience. An inductive analysis of students' written statements and practicum evaluations revealed an increase in beliefs about children's learning as 'active understanding' over the two-week period. Implications for teacher education programs are discussed.
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The procedure for the development of a measure of humour appreciation among a convenience sample of 53 primary school children attending a one-week summer program held in Hong Kong is described. Two sets of visual stimuli depicting pictures of local celebrities portrayed either veridically (congruously) or incongruously were established from a pool of 30 pictorial items. The pictures were ranked for their humour properties yielding a 16-item test battery. Analyses of children's responses clearly indicated that incongruous pictures were rated as significantly funnier than congruous pictures.
[Copyright of Australian Journal of Educational and Developmental Psychology is the property of University of Newcastle, Faculty of Education.
Access via Directory of Open Access Journals: http://www.newcastle.edu.au/journal/ajedp/]