Item Failure and Performance on Subsequent Items of an Achievement Test

Effects of humor on the test performance of elementary school children

“…This study is important, because it demonstrates that the incorporation of humor into techniques of academic evaluation may have disparate effects on performance depending upon the momentary state of the students' anxiety or tension. It has long been recognized that there is an optimal level of tension for effective performance (Terry and Isaacson, 1971) ; ie., extremely high or low tension inhibits performance. Smith, et al (1971) showed that highly anxious students scored significantly higher on a humorous test than on a nonhumorous test, presumably because the humor reduced the high anxiety down to the optimal level.…”