Abstract
Developmental studies on humor have historically approached a limited age range – from birth until early adolescence – and have mostly considered humor interpretation and the production of situational and verbal humor. Focusing on cartooning, a highly demanding cognitive and communication activity, in this paper we aim to provide empirical data drawn from a larger age span than usual – 10 to 18 years old – to better understand what adolescents find humorous and how they create humor. Our corpus comes from nine workshops of cartoon production and interpretation conducted between 2015 and 2018, in which a total of 63 girls and 72 boys participated. Based on a fine-grained cognitive and communication analysis, we distinguished six different profiles of texts depending on: whether and how a fictional situation (i.e. a humorous incongruity) was built, its relation to the referenced situation addressed (topic), and the author’s motivation. Simple Correspondence Analyses enabled us to identify that these texts varied according to the adolescents’ age and the cartoon’s format (single panel or strip). Greater cognitive sophistication was evidenced in single panel cartoons and among middle and late adolescents, who also showed a concern for social issues. Some gender variations were found.
Funding source: PIP CONICET
Award Identifier / Grant number: 0142
Funding source: Universidad Nacional del Comahue
Award Identifier / Grant number: C-130
Funding source: PICT
Award Identifier / Grant number: 2014-1016
About the authors
Ana Pedrazzini is a researcher in Communication and Semiotic studies at CONICET – National University of Comahue in Argentina. She obtained her PhD in Communication sciences at CELSA – Paris-Sorbonne University and in Social Sciences at the University of Buenos Aires. Her main research areas focus on cartoons as a discursive genre, cartoonists, and the creation of multimodal texts and cartoons by children and adolescents.
Lucía Bugallo is a graduate in Psychology (Universidad del Aconcagua, Argentina). Doctoral fellow (National Scientific and Technical Research Council) at the National University of Comahue (ECyC/IPEHCS: Group of Cultural and Cognitive Studies, Patagonian Institute of Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences). Her current research deals with the creation of graphic humor in adolescents and with the relation between play and learning in children.
Constanza Zinkgräf is both a researcher and a lecturer in General Psychology and Genetic Psychology (Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, National University of Comahue); in Introduction to Psychology and Developmental Psychology (Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, Comahue National University). She holds an MA in Education (Jaen University, Spain), a Diploma in Psychology (Open University, UK) and a degree in Psychology (Buenos Aires National University). Her current research deals with the creation of graphic humor in adolescents and children.
Nora Scheuer is a principal researcher for CONICET at the National University of Comahue. She is a Doctor in Psychology (University of Geneva, 1996) and Psychopedagogue (CAECE, Argentina, 1983). Her studies seek to understand how children approach and give meaning to semiotic practices and instruments that are central to their participation in a literate culture, such as drawing, writing and number; how they conceive the processes of learning, teaching and play; and what practices enhance greater depth, interconnection and agency in their learning.
Acknowledgment
This study has been partially sponsored by PIP CONICET 0142, PICT 2014–1016 and Universidad Nacional del Comahue C-130.
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