Schoolchildren seem to find humor a useful tool.
Clown School
Scientists believe that the seventh-grade class clown was the brightest child in the room.
According to research published by the International Journal of Humor, humor ability and overall intelligence are closely linked in middle school-aged children.
Ugur Sak, a lead researcher at Anadolu University, stated in a press release that we were especially interested in how children's humor was evaluated by adults. Teachers and parents should know that students or children who make high quality humor are likely to have exceptional intelligence.
Pack bonding
The study also revealed that children use humor in a different way than adults.
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Sak stated in the release that humor is often used by adults for entertainment, but children use it mainly for peer acceptance. The nature of child and adult humor is therefore different.
Fledgling Cartoonists
Researchers arranged for experts from humor education to evaluate the captions that 217 middle-school students wrote in order to identify which students were smarter and funnier. The cartoonists and humor educators described as experts judged the cartoons on their comedy value and relevance. They found that students with higher verbal reasoning skills and generalized intelligence were also the most funny.
It is not surprising, perhaps, that better wordsmiths are able to conjure up more jokes. However, the study seems valuable in measuring students' progress in school and finding ways to improve it.
READ MORE: Class act - Clever children make better jokes [De Groyter]
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Here's more on humor: 10 of The Most Futuristic April Fools Jokes
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