Humour and the young child A review of the research literature

The most challenging aspect to humour research is in defining exactly what it means to “have a sense of humour”. Does it mean an ability to create or respond to jokes and other overtly funny events or stories? Or is it something larger and less specific – perhaps an ability to tolerate difficulties with good grace and strength (Vejleskov, 2001)? Is a “sense of humour” a single trait or one with several aspects such as the ability to tell a joke, to appreciate a joke, or to use humour to mock or to tease in a hostile manner? Once defined, how do we measure a “sense of humour”? How funny must anyone find something in order to have a sense of humour? And do people of different ages or genders or socio-economic status or cultural backgrounds laugh at different things? What about blind people or deaf people or people with mental or emotional handicaps? Are any jokes funny to everybody? Finally, does having a sense of humour matter? Do children with a sense of humour have more friends, do better in school, or enjoy better emotional and physical health or not? Is a sense of humour inborn or something we can encourage? If we can teach a sense of humour, how do we do that? Unlike other psychological constructs (e. g., intelligence or extraversion) there is no standard conception of sense of humour upon which researchers generally agree (Martin, 1998). With the caveat that this field is currently made up of multiple approaches, conceptions, measurements and often conflicting findings, the following is a summary of relevant study results.