Humor styles in the classroom: students’ perceptions of lecturer humor
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Lucy Amelia James
Abstract
Previous research has shown that humor can have an impact on people’s interpersonal relationships and the way they are perceived by others. In addition, it has been suggested that use of humor by teachers can be positive, but also negative. The aim of the research was to examine students’ perceptions of lecturers described as using different ‘humor styles.’ Using an online study, a sample of undergraduate students (n = 201) were presented with one of 20 vignettes of a male or female lecturer using a particular style of humor (affiliative, aggressive, self-defeating, self-enhancing) or no humor, while they were teaching content described as ‘easy’ or ‘challenging.’ They responded to questions to assess: approachability of the lecturer, feelings of engagement, perceptions of the learning environment, and general perceptions of the lecturer. It was found that a lecturer using aggressive humor was perceived more negatively compared to when using the other humor styles, and that the adaptive styles of humor (particularly affiliative) had a positive impact on student perceptions, compared to when no humor was used. Self-defeating humor was perceived more positively compared to aggressive humor, but, unexpectedly, no differently to the other styles of humor. The findings will add to the growing literature on the use of humor in an educational context.
Scenario 1 – no humour
Imagine a lecturer who tends to teach content which is widely accepted to be fairly easy to understand/quite challenging to understand. He/she often begins by introducing students to the aims and objectives for the lecture and at the end they sometimes suggest reading for students to complete in their own time. The lecturer does not tend to use humour when communicating with their students.
Scenario 2 – affiliative
Imagine a lecturer who tends to teach content which is widely accepted to fairly easy/quite challenging to understand. He/she often begins by introducing students to the aims and objectives for the lecture and they sometimes suggest reading for students to complete in their own time. The lecturer often introduces jokes into their lectures to lighten the mood and to create laughter. The lecturer seems to find it quite easy to make the students laugh.
Scenario 3 – self-enhancing
Imagine a lecturer who tends to teach content which is widely accepted to fairly easy/quite challenging to understand. He/she often begins by introducing students to the aims and objectives for the lecture and they sometimes suggest reading for students to complete in their own time. The lecturer seems to use humour to maintain a positive outlook on life. When they appear to be very busy or are teaching something difficult, they tend to use humour to help themselves to cope.
Scenario 4 – aggressive
Imagine a lecturer who tends to teach content which is widely accepted to fairly easy/quite challenging to understand. He/she often begins by introducing students to the aims and objectives for the lecture and they sometimes suggest reading for students to complete in their own time. During classes, the teacher doesn’t seem to think carefully about the humour they use and sometimes uses humour at the expense of others or to put others down, for example, to tease students in the class in front of their peers.
Scenario 5 – self-defeating
Imagine a lecturer who tends to teach content which is widely accepted to fairly easy/quite challenging to understand. He/she often begins by introducing students to the aims and objectives for the lecture and they sometimes suggest reading for students to complete in their own time. When teaching classes, to encourage the students to like them the lecturer often makes fun of their own ability and uses humour to make jokes about things they are not so good at.
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© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- From the Editor 37-1 (2024)
- Full Length Articles
- Why cartoons make (some of) us smile
- Mock impoliteness in Spanish: evidence from the VALESCO.HUMOR corpus
- From I to we in humor research: a systematic review of the antecedents and consequences of humor in groups
- Conventional metaphorical scenarios of humor in Romanian
- Humor styles in the classroom: students’ perceptions of lecturer humor
- Stand-up for integration: stand-up comedy and its effects on social integration of expats and other migrants
- Book Reviews
- Cosse, Isabella: Mafalda: A Social and Political History of Latin America’s Global Comic (translated by L. Pérez Carrara)
- Rashi Bhargava and Richa Chilana: Punching up in stand-up comedy: speaking truth to power
- Patrice A. Oppliger and Eric Shouse: The Dark Side of Stand-Up Comedy
- Paul Bouissac: The End of the Circus: Evolutionary Semiotics and Cultural Resistance
- Massih Zekavat and Tabea Scheel: Satire, Humor, and Environmental Crises
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- From the Editor 37-1 (2024)
- Full Length Articles
- Why cartoons make (some of) us smile
- Mock impoliteness in Spanish: evidence from the VALESCO.HUMOR corpus
- From I to we in humor research: a systematic review of the antecedents and consequences of humor in groups
- Conventional metaphorical scenarios of humor in Romanian
- Humor styles in the classroom: students’ perceptions of lecturer humor
- Stand-up for integration: stand-up comedy and its effects on social integration of expats and other migrants
- Book Reviews
- Cosse, Isabella: Mafalda: A Social and Political History of Latin America’s Global Comic (translated by L. Pérez Carrara)
- Rashi Bhargava and Richa Chilana: Punching up in stand-up comedy: speaking truth to power
- Patrice A. Oppliger and Eric Shouse: The Dark Side of Stand-Up Comedy
- Paul Bouissac: The End of the Circus: Evolutionary Semiotics and Cultural Resistance
- Massih Zekavat and Tabea Scheel: Satire, Humor, and Environmental Crises
