Verbal Humor in Gifted Students and Students in the General Population: A Comparison of Spontaneous Mirth and Comprehension

Abstract

The spontaneous mirth response and comprehension of verbal humor were compared in gifted students and students from the general population. A total of 120 students in grades four, six, and eight participated in the study. A twenty-item instrument containing age-appropriate riddles, jokes, puns, selections of satire, and nonhumorous items was developed by the researcher to gather data. The results indicated that the gifted subjects performed significantly higher in spontaneous mirth response and comprehension than the general population group. This finding lends support to the assumption that gifted children noticeably have a “good sense of humor,” a characteristic often attributed to them as a group. No significant differences were discovered between either group with respect to gender, and grade level explained only part of the difference in the scores between the groups. The gifted group also had higher mean scores for spontaneous mirth response and comprehension on the pun and satire items. On the basis of the findings, implications for classroom use and teacher preparation are addressed.