Humor 2013

Humorous Cartoons in College Textbooks: Student Perceptions and Learning

Asil Ali Özdoğru and Robert F. McMorris

We investigated effects of humorous cartoons on students' perceptions and learning of psychological concepts with sense of humor as a moderator. One hundred fifty-six college students studied six one-page concept presentations, three with and three without content-related cartoons. All students responded to the Multidimensional Sense of Humor Scale, multiple-choice test items on the given concepts, and survey items including demographic questions and Likert-scale items on their perceptions of the concept presentations. Students reported favorable attitudes for inserting cartoons in reading passages. However, there was no apparent effect of humorous cartoons on students' learning of the concepts. Methodological considerations are discussed in terms of their likely effects on the findings of the study and suggestions for further research are offered.

Keywords: humorous cartoons; humor in learning; memory; student perceptions of humor; sense of humor

Citation: Özdoğru, A. A., & McMorris, R. F. (2013). Humorous cartoons in college textbooks: Student perceptions and learning. HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research, 26, 135–154. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/humor-2013-0008