Cognitive-Affective Aspect Of Humor Influence On Development Of Students Innovative Abilities

Abstract

The cognitive-affective content of humor is described; the possibilities of using humor as a means of developing innovative abilities through the organization of effective communication in the learning process and the inclusion in the methodology and content of training are analyzed. An innovative educational technology based on the use of a system of heuristic humorous tasks is proposed. The cognitive-affective content of humorously formulated tasks simultaneously meets the requirements of cognitive goals and is perceived as emotionally attractive. The emotional attractiveness of the task contributes to its accepting for solving and, accordingly, to the development of innovative abilities. Thus, the understanding of the implicit meaning by means of humor is based on the following: the generation of a new meaning in the corresponding context; a linguistic form that generates a transformation of the semantic content; creation of alternative meanings by means of deviations from normative expectations; choosing the optimal solution based on anticipation of the consequences of decision making. The effectiveness of the analyzed system of humorous heuristic innovation tasks lies in the fact that the tasks simultaneously meet the requirements of cognitive goals and are perceived as emotionally attractive in terms of their content. The emotional attractiveness of the task contributes to its accepting for solving and, accordingly, the development of innovative abilities.

Keywords: Cognitive-affective foundations of humorhumorinnovative abilitiescognitioneffective communication

Introduction

The newest trends in education, which have intensified in the last two decades, are manifested in the recognition by the pedagogical community of the idea of the obligatory use of positively colored emotions in the learning process as the basis for a deep understanding and effective mastering the educational material. Humor is an effective source of positive emotions. In humor, the connection of knowledge transmitted by means of language is mediated by the subject of perception, cognition, thinking, behavior, communication and practical activity due to intentionally motivated blending (understanding of meaning as a result of crossing different words or expressions close in sounding, structure and meaning). In the humorous form, the content of consciousness represents the goals and interests of the subject of cognition, his/her creative potential, innovative abilities in the most expressive linguistic form.

Humor, as one of the components of cognitive-affective communication, is used between various subjects of cognition (individual or collective ones). In humor the ability of consciousness to self-determination in practical and adaptive purposes is most clearly manifested, for example, through the explication of all implicit consequences. In such way, the communicative conditions are created to increase flexibility and receptivity to the changes that are taking place in the modern world. Obviously, flexibility of perception and thinking and openness to change are part of the content of innovative abilities.

The problem of using humor in education is studied in various aspects: from the point of view of the general problems of pedagogy (preschool, school and higher education, postgraduate self-education, additional education for children); as a means of organizing mastering the educational and methodological materials for individual branches of knowledge (subjects); as a possibility of taking into account and studying the age characteristics of students; as a means of forming various skills and abilities. A review of the highlighted aspects makes it possible to state that the problems of the comic in connection with solving the general problems of pedagogy are considered from the point of view of the study of the psychological and pedagogical capabilities of the comic as a means, form and content of teaching and upbringing.

Many researchers acknowledge that humor is a means of increasing the effectiveness of the pedagogical process. The pedagogical recommendations on the application of the potential of humor are being developed. In this regard, of interest are the studies by Professor L. Muniz of the New York University, emphasizing the ability of humor to encourage participants of communication to the dynamic perception of information, to revealing new and unexpected possibilities of the world of ideas and meanings, pushing for discovery, which is not accessible to logic, the traditionally recognized or conventional methods. For the development of innovative abilities, all of the above possibilities are of particular importance.

Problem Statement

Cognitive and affective components of humor in education

Humor is a form of reflection of the objective world; the generation and perception of humor is an intellectual activity that mediates the dynamic perception of reality (degrading-reviving). The process of cognition on the basis of humor proceeds through the resolution of contradictions and is mediated by intellectual activity. Humor is manifested as the identification of two or more elements, which simultaneously exclude each other, which causes an active independent development of the thinking process. Humor is an intellectual feeling, mediated by the interpenetration of cognitive and affective components.

Presently, the research devoted to the study of the cognitive-affective nature of humor in education and its role there is widely carried out in pedagogy. The cognitive processes in the understanding of humor were investigated by J.M. Suls (1983). We note numerous ways of using humor in the teaching and learning process discovered by D. Tamblyn (2003). The problems of organization of higher education on the basis of humor are discussed in the work by J.P. Powell and L.W. Andresen (Powell, Andresen, 1985). Studying the experience of school teachers using humor in the learning process, J.W. Neuliep has developed an inductively derived classification of humor used in the school classes (Neuliep, 1991).

The role of the affective component of humor in education is brilliantly assessed by J. Rodari, who claims that "the greatest misconception about the educational process is the opinion that this process must go in a gloomy manner." These words can serve as an excellent epigraph to the understanding of the role of humor in education. If humor is used in various representations in the course of training sessions (in the form of funny tasks, illustrations, funny cases, caricatures, etc.), then, as the researchers note, the rate, quality and depth of mastering the educational material clearly increase. For example, R.A. Oppliger (2003) in the work "Humor and learning" emphasizes that students have a higher motivation for the learning process if they are cheerful and happy than if they are in the state of anxiety and fear (Oppliger, 2003).

Humor as a regulator of the emotional states of the individual, as a means of getting rid of the negative emotional state through humorous stimuli has been studied by A.C. Samson and J.J. Gross (Samson, Gross, 2012). Of great interest is also the study of R. A. Berk and J.P. Nanda (1998), who obtained interesting statistics about the effectiveness of the use of humorous instructions as a method of teaching aimed at reducing the conflict of adolescent communication, harmonizing interpersonal relationships and reducing anxiety (Berk, Nanda, 1998).

S.B. Fortson and W.E. Brown (1998) published the results of their research in the work "Best and the worst university instructors: The opinions of graduate students" (Fortson, Brown, 1998), which make it possible to assert that humor also affects the emotional perception of the teacher by students.

Research Questions

Humor in textbooks as a means of developing innovative abilities

A number of factors influence the learning process. One of such factors is the existence of a connection between the depth and quality of mastering the educational material and the accompanying of this material with humorous illustrations, most often in the university textbooks. The effect of this factor on the depth of mastering the educational material was studied by J. Bryant, D. Brown, A.R. Silberberg and S.M. Elliott (Bryant, Brown, Silberberg, Elliott, 1981).

In the works of Т. V. Ivanova, the psychological aspects of the comic from the point of view of the possibility of its using for the development of social and perceptual skills of students of higher educational institutions are described. The concept of the "non-verbal comic" is introduced, which is considered as "drawing" humor (friendly cartoons, caricature, humorous drawings). The programs for training socially-perceptive skills of the perception of the comic have been developed: seminars on the "Human Psychology" course, special practice "Psychology of Perception and Comprehension of the Comic" (Ivanova, 1998). Thus, the cognitive basis of not only verbal but also non-verbal humor is identified.

We should note the active use of humor in the study guides for students in various fields of knowledge. For example, "Introduction to biochemistry" presented in verse and set to music is available for the students seeking an easy life. This edition was published in Oxford and New York. Numerous examples of the use of humor are presented in the textbook by D. Nicholls "Bioenergetics", published in New York and London. This list can be expanded by mentioning "quite serious anecdotes", which became the basis of B. Trenkle's "Ha-ha therapy" (Trenkle, 1998). In the work of B. Trenkle, the development of the problem of training specialists in the field of family therapy and specialists in clinical hypnosis by means of humor has found an original realization. The audience appreciated the new technology of professional training of specialists as an innovative and successful method.

Purpose of the Study

The cognitive-affective content of humor is described; the possibilities of using humor as a means of developing innovative abilities through the organization of effective communication in the learning process and the inclusion in the methodology and content of training are analyzed. An innovative educational technology based on the use of a system of heuristic humorous tasks is proposed.

Research Methods

Analysis of the theoretical problems of humor in education and the analysis of textbooks for the development of innovative capabilities.

Findings

Humor as a form of effective communication in the learning process

At the basis of the sense-related perception of humor is a form that mediates the identification of semantic components at the initial stage of information awareness and the construction of new semantic models of a communicative situation with the aim of adequate orientation in it based on the identified components. Comprehension of a new meaning is realized through the impact on the perception of humorous content with the help of a language form, in which not only the meanings but various connotations (relationships, assessments) are recorded that affect the change in the sense of the utterance in the process of understanding humor.

The relationship between the teacher and students in the learning process that uses humor was investigated by J. Gorham and D.M. Christophel (Gorham, Christophel, 1990). The use of humor in the work of medical practitioners to establish and maintain contact with children is discussed in the work by A. Struthers (2003). K. Van Giffen studied the influence of the professor's gender on creating an atmosphere of spontaneity and effectiveness of communication during training (Van Giffen, 1990). The influence of the sense of humor on the interpersonal relationships between college teachers, the assessment of the teacher's sense of humor by the students is analyzed from the point of view of pedagogical psychology by J. Bryant, P.W. Comisky, J.S. Crane and D. Zillmann (Bryant, Comisky, Crane, Zillmann, 1980).

In a number of works, the influence of humor on the effectiveness of teaching was investigated, where humor was assessed as a trait of the teacher's personality. The impact of humor as a personality style contributing to a sense of mental well-being is analyzed by W.F. Ruch, S. Heintz (Ruch, Heintz, 2013). Humor as a positive trait of the teacher's personality is described by J.F. Check in the work "Positive traits of the effective teacher-negative traits of the ineffective one. Education " (Check, 1986).

Conclusion

Humor as a method of effective development of innovative abilities

In the work by D. Tamblyn (2003) "Laugh and learn: 95 ways to use humor for more effective teaching and training", the ways of applying humor in the learning process are analyzed (Tamblyn, 2003). Humor, as one of the "most powerful educational resources" in training, is considered in the studies of S.E. Cornett (1986), who claims that humor is applicable to the effective achievement of various goals, such as teaching reading, solving behavioral problems, enriching vocabulary, learning foreign languages, and social integration of uncommunicative students (Cornett, 1986). The development of the sense of humor in the game theory and practice is studied by G. Masselos (Masselos, 2003). Scientific and research developments related to the use of humor in the educational process are carried out by J.L. Teslow (Teslow, 1995). The influence of humor on the learning process of children is studied by A.P. Davies and M.J. Apter, J. Bryant and D. Zillmann (Davies, Apter, 1980; Bryant, Zillmann, 1989).

M.V. Musiychuk discusses "The development of creativity or a dozen stratagems of wit" (Musijchuk, 2013). The book provides information on each of the 12 stratagems of wit and the technology of its reproduction. By their linguistic extravagance, the elegant examples accompanying the theoretical material motivate to compete with the masters of the word in the invention of utterances which are original in content and accurate in language form. Virtually all creative tasks contain possible answers: unexpected by the way of creation, witty in content, delicate in the moral sense. The illustrative part of the manual is good. More than fifty humorous drawings are in so much conformity with the content of the corresponding tasks that the mere correlation of them with a specific task helps to find the needed "answer". The effectiveness of the application of humorous tasks in the learning process is based on the proven assertion that the stratagems of wit and the mechanisms for constructing paradoxical problems are identical (Musijchuk, 2003).

Thus, the understanding of the implicit meaning by means of humor is based on the following: the generation of a new meaning in the corresponding context; a linguistic form that generates a transformation of the semantic content; creation of alternative meanings by means of deviations from normative expectations; choosing the optimal solution based on anticipation of the consequences of decision making. The effectiveness of the analyzed system of humorous heuristic innovation tasks lies in the fact that the tasks simultaneously meet the requirements of cognitive goals and are perceived as emotionally attractive in terms of their content. The emotional attractiveness of the task contributes to its accepting for solving and, accordingly, the development of innovative abilities.

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