Gifted children's humor preferences, sense of humor, and Comprehension of riddles

Abstract

This study explored gifted children's humor media preferences, explanations of humor funniness, evaluation of their sense of humor, and ability to produce, understand, and figure out riddle “punch lines.” Seventy-four gifted-identified children (40 male; 34 female) ages 7–12 were interviewed. Most media humor exhibited conceptual incongruity or word play with multiple meanings. Children rated themselves high on sense of humor (% = 3.9 of 5). Younger and older children and boys and girls differed only on girls' rating themselves more likely to notice and laugh at funny situations (the spectator role!), F(1, 72) = 6.319, p < .01, and younger children's rating themselves as more often in a bad mood, F(1, 72) = 5.541, p < .05. Most children produced a correctly told joke or riddle and gave accurate explanations of funniness. Boys' funny media examples had more hostile qualities (TV, (χ²2, df 1 = 4.544, p < .05); books (χ²2, df 1 = 4.381, p < .05). Younger and older groups did not differ in their ability to give humorous examples and to explain humor funniness. That is, even children of age 7–9 were operating at advanced humor levels typically achieved by children of age 12. Implications for encouraging gifted children's humor are discussed.