An explorative study into the possible benefits of using humor in creative tasks with a class of primary five pupils

Abstract

AbstractCreativity now occupies a legitimate place in the curriculum of U.K. schools. Research on the benefits of creativity and an acute awareness of its necessity in the modern workplace have both served to raise its profile. A number of researchers have investigated factors which are most likely to enhance creativity. Ziv (1983) in particular, has researched how humor can be used to promote creativity in adolescents. This study investigates the potential benefits of introducing humor before tasks which require a creative output from pupils of a younger age. The experiment tested the hypothesis that exposure to humorous stimuli in the form of a film cartoon would improve children's subsequent creativity scores in the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (2006). One group observed animated cartoons with humorous spoken dialogue while the other group observed animated cartoons without humorous content before test booklets were administered. The mean overall creativity score in the humorous condition (M = 59.43, SD = 13.11) was lower than the mean for the non-humorous condition (M = 67.00, SD = 8.98). Possible explanations for the results and directions for future research in this relatively new field, exploring the use of humor within education, are discussed.