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posted by janrinok on Monday November 22 2021, @09:44PM   Printer-friendly
from the you-cannot-be-serious! dept.

Scientists capture humour's earliest emergence:

Researchers from Bristol's School of Education sought to determine what types of humour are present in early development and the ages at which different types of humour emerge. The team created the 20-question Early Humour Survey (EHS) and asked the parents of 671 children aged 0 to 47 months from the UK, US, Australia, and Canada, to complete the five-minute survey about their child's humour development.

The team found the earliest reported age that some children appreciated humour was 1 month, with an estimated 50% of children appreciating humour by 2 months, and 50% producing humour by 11 months. The team also show that once children produced humour, they produced it often, with half of children having joked in the last 3 hours.

Of the children surveyed, the team identified 21 different types of humour. Children under one year of age appreciated physical, visual and auditory forms of humour. This included hide and reveal games (e.g., peekaboo), tickling, funny faces, bodily humour (e.g., putting your head through your legs), funny voices and noises, chasing, and misusing objects (e.g., putting a cup on your head).

One-year-olds appreciated several types of humour that involved getting a reaction from others. This included teasing, showing hidden body parts (e.g., taking off clothes), scaring others, and taboo topics (e.g., toilet humour). They also found it funny to act like something else (e.g., an animal).

Two-year-olds' humour reflected language development, including mislabelling, playing with concepts (e.g., dogs say moo), and nonsense words. Children in this age group were also found to demonstrate a mean streak as they appreciated making fun of others and aggressive humour (e.g., pushing someone).

Finally, 3-year-olds were found to play with social rules (e.g., saying naughty words to be funny), and showed the beginnings of understanding tricks and puns.

Journal Reference:
Elena Hoicka, Burcu Soy Telli, Eloise Prouten, et al. The Early Humor Survey (EHS): A reliable parent-report measure of humor development for 1- to 47-month-olds. [open], Behavior Research Methods (DOI: 10.3758/s13428-021-01704-4)


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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Monday November 22 2021, @09:58PM (5 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 22 2021, @09:58PM (#1198702) Journal

    What about that one baby who laughed at everyone from day one? You had a class clown in school, you know who I'm talking about.

    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday November 22 2021, @10:13PM (2 children)

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday November 22 2021, @10:13PM (#1198707)

      Define humor. Newborns will copy stuck-out tongue expressions, and giggle... is that humor?

      --
      🌻🌻 [google.com]
      • (Score: 2) by Barenflimski on Monday November 22 2021, @10:14PM

        by Barenflimski (6836) on Monday November 22 2021, @10:14PM (#1198709)

        Yes. How many times has someone laughed at you when you repeated a joke?

      • (Score: 2) by driverless on Tuesday November 23 2021, @11:32AM

        by driverless (4770) on Tuesday November 23 2021, @11:32AM (#1198854)

        Only up to a certain age. Then it's poos, farts, and boogers for several years.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 23 2021, @01:48AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 23 2021, @01:48AM (#1198778)

      Runaway, you are the class clown of S/N. Too bad you are not very funny.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 23 2021, @04:59PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 23 2021, @04:59PM (#1198945)

        But everyone laughs at Runaway.

  • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday November 22 2021, @10:11PM (2 children)

    by fustakrakich (6150) on Monday November 22 2021, @10:11PM (#1198706) Journal

    Now watch the magic!

    --
    La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
    • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 22 2021, @10:47PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 22 2021, @10:47PM (#1198724)

      with half of children having joked in the last 3 hours.

      The other half are going to be Democrats!

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 22 2021, @10:59PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 22 2021, @10:59PM (#1198730)

        We call them "victims", same difference I guess

  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday November 22 2021, @10:52PM (2 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 22 2021, @10:52PM (#1198728) Journal

    3-year-olds were found to play with social rules (e.g., saying naughty words to be funny), and showed the beginnings of understanding tricks and puns.

    Once I discovered puns, I stuck to that level of intellectual and social development forever!

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 22 2021, @11:05PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 22 2021, @11:05PM (#1198731)

      Once I discovered puns, I stuck to that level of intellectual and social development forever!

      We would Java have guessed.

      • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday November 23 2021, @02:45PM

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday November 23 2021, @02:45PM (#1198883) Journal

        We would Java have guest.

        --
        People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
  • (Score: 2) by Frosty Piss on Tuesday November 23 2021, @12:42AM

    by Frosty Piss (4971) on Tuesday November 23 2021, @12:42AM (#1198759)

    This is absolutely cutting edge science, society will be forever enriched with this discovery.

  • (Score: 2) by sjames on Tuesday November 23 2021, @06:27AM (2 children)

    by sjames (2882) on Tuesday November 23 2021, @06:27AM (#1198824) Journal

    When I read the headline, I thought TFA would be about something like cave children laughing when uncle Ogg gets minor burns farting on the fire.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 23 2021, @07:08AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 23 2021, @07:08AM (#1198832)

      In soviet russia sabre-tooth tiger hunts YOU.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 23 2021, @12:07PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 23 2021, @12:07PM (#1198860)

      rats are known to laugh, so it's fairly ancient as far as biology is concerned.
      https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/rats-laugh-but-not-like-human/ [scientificamerican.com]

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