Some lectures may be hard to pay attention to. Some subjects such as research methods and statistics may seem very dry. What can the instructor do to make these topics more interesting? One possibility is to use humorous examples in the lectures.
In Garner's (2006) experiment, all the participants viewed three video-recorded lectures on statistics and research methods. Each participant was randomly assigned to one of two conditions. In one condition (humor condition), the participant viewed lectures with humor segments (e.g., with humorous examples). In the other condition, the participants viewed the lectures without the humor segment (control condition). Garner found that the participants in the humor condition recalled more information on the average than participants in the control condition. (1)
Humor may increase recall because it is distinctive, vivid, or it attracts attention. Greater attention may lead to deeper processing of the concepts.
This finding has important practical implications. Examples are routinely used to make concepts clearer and more memorable. It may be beneficial for instructors to use humorous examples.
There may be some limitations of education humor and the use of humor in the classroom. Offensive or unrelated humor may not be beneficial. It is important for instructors to use appropriate humor that is directly related to the concepts in the course.
Notes
See Garner's article for other research findings.
References
Garner, R. L. (2006). Humor in pedagogy: How ha-ha can lead
to aha! College Teaching, 54, 177-180.