ISHS 2005

Humorous Cartoons in College Textbooks: Student Perceptions and Learning

Asil Ali Özdoğru and Robert F. McMorris

In this study, the effects of humorous cartoons on graduate students’ perceptions and learning of psychological concepts were investigated by taking sense of humor as a moderator variable. Fifty-five graduate students were given 3 concepts with cartoons and 3 without cartoons to study. Then students were handed survey items including demographic questions, Likert-scale items asking their perceptions about the materials, the Multidimensional Sense of Humor Scale, and 24 multiple-choice test items, 4 per concept, on the given concepts. The self-report data were very supportive of using cartoons in instructional material. Analyses of the test results, however, showed no significant difference in the performance scores of students in humorous and non-humorous concepts. In summary, students reported favorable attitudes for inserting cartoons into reading passages; however there was no apparent effect of humorous cartoons on students’ learning of concepts. Sense of humor was also seen to be an important variable associated with students’ tendency to read cartoons.

Keywords: Humor, sense of humor, cartoons, learning

Citation: Özdoğru, A. A., & McMorris, R. F. (2005, June). Humorous cartoons in college textbooks: Student perceptions and learning. Paper presented at the 17th annual conference of the International Society of Humor Studies, Youngstown, OH.