To be funny or not to be funny: Gender differences in student perceptions of instructor humor in college science courses

Abstract

For over 50 years instructor humor has been recognized as a way to positively impact student cognitive and affective learning. However, no study has explored humor exclusively in the context of college science courses, which have the reputation of being difficult and boring. The majority of studies that explore humor have assumed that students perceive instructor humor to be funny, yet students likely perceive some instructor humor as unfunny or offensive. Further, evidence suggests that women perceive certain subjects to be more offensive than men, yet we do not know what impact this may have on the experience of women in the classroom. To address these gaps in the literature, we surveyed students across 25 different college science courses about their perceptions of instructor humor in college science classes, which yielded 1637 student responses. Open-coding methods were used to analyze student responses to a question about why students appreciate humor. Multinomial regression was used to identify whether there are gender differences in the extent to which funny, unfunny, and offensive humor influenced student attention to course content, instructor relatability, and student sense of belonging. Logistic regression was used to examine gender differences in what subjects students find funny and offensive when joked about by college science instructors. Nearly 99% of students reported that they appreciate instructor humor and reported that it positively changes the classroom atmosphere, improves student experiences during class, and enhances the student-instructor relationship. We found that funny humor tends to increase student attention to course content, instructor relatability, and student sense of belonging. Conversely, offensive humor tends to decrease instructor relatability and student sense of belonging. Lastly, we identified subjects that males were more likely to find funny and females were more likely to find offensive if a college science instructor were to joke about them.

Don’t Joke About Me: Student Identities and Perceptions of Instructor Humor in College Science Courses

“…While humor can lead to an array of positive outcomes for students, they likely have to perceive the humor to be funny in order for it to be effective. In fact, a recent study we conducted across 25 college science courses demonstrated that while funny humor enhanced students' sense of belonging, attention to course content, and relationships with the instructor, offensive humor decreased students' sense of belonging, attention to course content, and relationships with the instructor (6). Importantly, humor is subjective and jokes that one person may find funny, someone else may find offensive.…”

“…Humor can be a powerful tool that science instructors can use to connect with students, build classroom community, and create a more engaging classroom (1)(2)(3)(4)(5). Studies have shown that humor can help increase instructor immediacy, narrowing the psychological distance between students and instructors, and help students perceive instruc-tors as more relatable (6)(7)(8). Science instructors have been previously described as uninteresting and unfriendly (9)(10)(11)(12)(13), so humor is one method by which they can seem more like a "real person" (6).…”

“…Studies have shown that humor can help increase instructor immediacy, narrowing the psychological distance between students and instructors, and help students perceive instruc-tors as more relatable (6)(7)(8). Science instructors have been previously described as uninteresting and unfriendly (9)(10)(11)(12)(13), so humor is one method by which they can seem more like a "real person" (6). Further, science content can be perceived as difficult, dry, or boring, so humor can give students a mental break from the high cognitive load of the classroom and help them engage with the material (1,6,14).…”

“…Science instructors have been previously described as uninteresting and unfriendly (9)(10)(11)(12)(13), so humor is one method by which they can seem more like a "real person" (6). Further, science content can be perceived as difficult, dry, or boring, so humor can give students a mental break from the high cognitive load of the classroom and help them engage with the material (1,6,14). Finally, the potential psychological benefits of humor are numerous, including reduced anxiety and stress levels, as well as enhanced self-efficacy and self-motivation (3,5,14,15).…”

“…There is relatively little research that has explored the link between college student social identities and students' interpretation of humor. Our research group explored the impact of gender on student perception of funny and offensive topics that college science instructors might joke about in class and identified striking differences between men and women (6). Specifically, men were more likely than women to report that they might find jokes about identity groups (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity) funny if a college science instructor were to joke about them.…”