Class Clowns – Good Sign
According to scientists, the seventh-grade class clown may have been the smartest child in the room.
According to studies published in the International Journal of Comedy Research, humour ability and general IQ are closely associated in middle-school-aged children.
In a press release, primary study author and Anadolu University professor Ugur Sak noted that they were particularly interested in the quality of comedy generated by youngsters but was judged by adults. Parents and teachers should be aware that if their children or pupils generate good quality humour on a regular basis, it is highly likely that they have exceptional intelligence.
Humour for Peer Acceptability
The study also revealed that children appear to employ comedy and become class clown to achieve different goals than adults. While adults use humour for amusement, youngsters utilise it mostly for peer acceptability. As a result, adult and juvenile comedy have different characteristics.
The researchers arranged for professionals to judge the captions that 217 middle school pupils produced for a series of ten cartoons in order to discover which students were funnier and smarter. The experts, who are described in the study as cartoonists and “humour education” teachers, evaluated the cartoons for comic appeal and relevancy, finding that kids with better verbal reasoning skills and more generalist IQ tests were also the funniest.
Better Vocab leads to Funnier Jokes
It’s maybe unsurprising that the stronger wordsmiths were able to conjure up funnier jokes and become a class clown, but the study appears to be useful in terms of tracking students’ academic development and identifying methods to improve their education. So, if your child is being humours, maybe it’s a good sign for your child holistic development.
Paper was published here – De Gruyter.