An experimental study of the effects of humor and a conventional lesson on the divergent thinking of undergraduate students

Two studies were conducted in order to discover whether divergent thinking could be promoted more effectively by using a humor medium, such as audiotape, or by teaching a conventional lesson in divergent thinking. The first study involved three groups of (76) randomly assigned, minority freshmen in the Syracuse University Summer Institute. A pretest-posttest design was employed, using the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking-Verbal A and Verbal B as measures.;In the revised study (;Based on both studies, the data seem to indicate that the effect of the divergent thinking lesson treatment was greater than either the control or the humor treatment on total averaged standard scores and on most subscores.;However, because of negative gain scores attained by control groups and humor groups in both studies, the results should be considered with caution. Suggested reasons for the negative gain scores are a novelty effect in each study and previous exposure to the recording by subjects in the second study, thus reducing the recording's surprise/humor value.;One treatment group received a conventional lesson in divergent thinking, another treatment group listened to a 30 minute audio recording of a standup comic. The third group went directly from the pretest to the posttest. Based on an analysis of variance of pretest-posttest gain scores, the conventional teaching treatment seemed to be the most effective. However, due to a decline in pretest-to-posttest scores for the humor and control groups, as well as a wide range of increases and declines in scores, the decision was made to conduct another study.;Due to the difficulty in finding data from studies which used the Torrance Verbal instruments in their entirety, as well as in a pretest-posttest design, suggestions for future studies focused on the need for such studies and for the publication of more complete data.