Abstract:

The study is focused on humor in childhood (preschool) age. The study is based on the philosophical approach and on the knowledge base of the contemporary stream of positive education. The purpose of the study is to detect, describe and analyze situations perceived by preschool children as humorous. The research sample included N=78 children aged 3 to 7 years. Three data acquisition methods were used (see the triangulation principle): observation (during the children’s stay at the nursery school – the key events method), semi-structured interview (behavioral questions such as “Can you describe what makes you laugh for sure?”) and drawing a picture related to an assigned topic (“Draw a situation that truly made you laugh”). In total, N=223 humorous situations were obtained, which were analyzed. Expert sorting of the humorous situations was undertaken, assigning the situations to 14 categories, and the characteristics of humor in various preschool age periods were further described and discussed based on frequency analysis. Among other things, it was found out that preschool children laughed at situations classified as jokes (accidents caused intentionally by another person) and situations where the dominant role was played by a change in typical attributes (for example, big-eared fish). The share of situations of the scatterbrain – clumsy clod category (unintentionally created humorous situations) rises with age. The described knowledge of the sources of humor in childhood age may help teachers in their effort to build positive atmosphere in the class and in their work with children.

Keywords:

Humor, laugh, humorous situations, childhood, preschool age.