HUMOR AS A PEDAGOGICAL TOOL - This Class is a Joke! Humor as a Pedagogical Tool in the Teaching of Psychology

Aug 26, 2026

Uploaded by Eden

The bibliography presents an annotated, instructor-friendly resource on using humor in teaching psychology. It summarizes scholarly and nonscholarly work and highlights evidence-based benefits such as increased student enjoyment and potential gains in retention, while also acknowledging documented limitations of humor in educational settings. Research discussed includes associations between instructor humor and students’ perceptions of attitude, support, and concern. The compilation provides representative coverage across classroom practice, exams, syllabi, and specific psychology content areas including statistics, history, and online instruction.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages31

Reading Time1 h 18 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Evidence for Humor in Instruction

Benefits and Limitations

Purpose and Scope of the Annotated Bibliography

References

HUMOR AS A PEDAGOGICAL TOOL 1 This Class is a Joke! Humor as a Pedagogical Tool in the Teaching of Psychology Dan J. Segrist and Stephen D. A. Hupp Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Supported by a 2012 Instructional Resource Award Author contact information: Dan J. Segrist Department of Psychology Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Edwardsville, IL 62026 (618) 650-3159 [dsegris@siue.edu](dsegris@siue.edu) Copyright 2015 by Dan J. Segrist and Stephen D. A. Hupp. All rights reserved. You may reproduce multiple copies of this material for your own personal use, including use in your classes and/or sharing with individual colleagues as long as the author’s name and institution and the Office of Teaching Resources in Psychology heading or other identifying information appear on the copied document. No other permission is implied or granted to print, copy, reproduce, or distribute additional copies of this material. Anyone who wishes to produce copies for purposes other than those specified above must obtain the permission of the author(s) . HUMOR AS A PEDAGOGICAL TOOL 2 This Class is a Joke! Humor as a Pedagogical Tool in the Teaching of Psychology In recent years, educators have been encouraged to make use of humor in their teaching, and research suggests that instructors often do so (Martin, 2007) . Many authors have advocated the use of humor and have detailed humor’s potential benefits as an instructional tool (Berk, 1996; Powers, 2008) . Humor can be incorporated into instruction in a variety of ways including in the classroom, on exams, and on syllabi to name a few (Berk, 2002, 2003; Martin, 2007) . Although the sparse research literature on humor in education (Berk, 1996) has produced mixed results (Teslow, 1995), humor can increase students’enjoyment of a course and possibly enhance their retention of material (Garner, 2006) . However, there are also limitations to the use of humor in education (Deiter, 2000; Martin, 2007; Wanzer, Frymier, Wojtaszczyk, & Smith, 2006), Wilson and Taylor (2001) found that psychology instructors’use of humor was positively associated with students’perceptions that the instructor had “a positive attitude toward” them,“wanted them to succeed,” and displayed “a genuine concern for them”(pp. 136-137) . Powers (2008) suggested ways that humor might be used in the teaching of psychology, and other authors have described and studied the use of humor in specific psychology content areas, including statistics (e.g., Lesser & Pearl, 2008; Neumann, Hood, & Neumann, 2009), the history of psychology (e.g., Thorne, 1999), and online psychology courses (e.g., LoSchiavo & Shatz, 2005) . Excellent review articles and chapters that focus on the use of humor in teaching exist. Although such resources provide an overview of extant research, the bibliography we have compiled is annotated – allowing us to provide summaries and relatively detailed descriptions of individual articles and studies. The purpose of this bibliography, then, is to provide psychology HUMOR AS A PEDAGOGICAL TOOL 3 instructors with a user-friendly,“one-stop” shop replete with representative descriptions of scholarly and nonscholarly information focused on the use of humor in teaching. Although this resource does not include every article, book, or book chapter ever written about the use of humor in teaching, we have attempted to provide a representative and relatively comprehensive list. Because instructors are frequently pressed for time, we have also indicated those resources that we feel provide a good overview of the use of humor in teaching, touch a specific and important topic (e.g., using humor with international students), or describe studies that seem particularly well-designed.* We hope that this bibliography will provide instructors either with a solid starting point as they consider the use of humor in teaching or with new ideas for the seasoned comedian in the classroom. * We thank

FAQs

What is the main purpose of the compiled bibliography?

To provide psychology instructors with a user-friendly “one-stop” collection of representative materials on the use of humor in teaching, with annotations and relatively detailed descriptions of individual studies and articles.

What benefits does research suggest humor can offer in teaching?

Humor can increase students’ enjoyment of a course and may enhance retention of material. Some findings also link instructor humor to positive student perceptions about the instructor’s attitude and concern.

What limitations are noted about using humor in education?

The document acknowledges that the research literature on humor in education shows mixed results and also describes limitations to using humor as an instructional tool.

Aug 26, 2026

Uploaded by Eden