The main stages of developing children’s sense of humor

What is the formation of the individual differences in the sense of humor connected with? When do these differences show themselves for the first time? What influences the formation of our sense of humor the most – genetics, family setting or external factors? In what way does the perception and production of humor depend on the stages of cognitive and psychological development of an individual? It is impossible to answer these questions without referring to children, especially to child humor and age psychology. This work represents the review of the most significant empirical investigations and theoretical conclusions related to studying the development of the children’s sense of humor. We consider in detail two most well-known models of developing the children’s sense of humor - Paul McGhee’s and Martha Wolfenstein’s. Besides describing children’s reaction to the jokes prepared in advance the article gives the results of studying children’s understanding of irony and sarcasm.

References

[1] Martin R. The psychology of humor: an integrative approach. Academic Press, 2006, 464 p.

[2] Kozintsev A.G. Chelovek i smekh [A person and laugh]. Sankt-Petersburg, Aleteyya publ., 2007, 235 p.

[3] Gubanov N.N. Development of globalistic mentality and education. Sotsiologiya obrazovaniya [Sociology of Education], 2011, no. 6, pp. 74–82.

[4] McGhee P.E. Humor and children’s development. A guide to practical applications. Routledge, 2014, 294 p.

[5] Chukovskiy K. Ot dvukh do pyati [From two to five]. Moscow, Azbuka publ., 2015, 276 p.

[6] Gubanov N.I., Gubanov N.N. Objectively unreal situations: the opportunities to create and prospects of usage. Filosofiya i obshchestvo [Philosophy and society], 2015, no. 1(76), pp. 48–64.

[7] Gubanov N.I., Gubanov N.N. The perspectives of using objectively unreal situations. Vestnik IGPI im. P.P. Ershova, 2013, no. 3(9), pp. 18–23.

[8] Hough A. Prince Philip’s best gaffes. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/prince-philip/9883276/Duke-of-Edinburghs-best-gaffes.html (accessed 26 February 2018).

[9] Chesnokova O.B. Ponimanie ironii det’mi starshego doshkol’nogo i mladshego shkol’nogo vozrasta [Understanding of irony by preschoolers and elementary school children]. Sb. mat. ezhegodnoy mezhd. nauch.-prakt. konf. “Vospitanie i obuchenie detey mladshego vozrasta” [Proc. Annual Int. Sci.-Pract. Conf “Early Children Care and Education”]. 2016, pp. 95–98.

[10] Gubanov N.N., Gubanov N.I. Kriterii v sisteme nauchnogo znaniya. Gumanitarnyy vestnik [Humanities Bulletin of BMSTU], 2016, no. 2(40). URL: http://hmbul.ru/catalog/hum/phil/344.html.