Investigating Humor in Social Interaction in People With Intellectual Disabilities: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Abstract

Background: Humor, both producing and appreciating, underpins positive social interactions. It acts as a facilitator of communication. There are clear links to wellbeing that go along with this form of social engagement. However, humor appears to be a seldom studied, cross-disciplinary area of investigation when applied to people with an intellectual disability. This review collates the current state of knowledge regarding the role of humor behavior in the social interactions of people with intellectual disabilities and their carers.Method: A systematic review utilizing the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines was completed, which aimed to explore the current state of knowledge and quality of empirical evidence relating to humor in people with intellectual disabilities. Following this, articles were grouped thematically and summarized. A comprehensive search of four electronic databases (1954–2017) and additional search strategies yielded 32 articles which met the final inclusion criteria.Results: Humor played a significant positive and negative role in the social interactions of people with intellectual disabilities. Research had investigated humor in the classroom and humor expression in different groups including those with autism, Down syndrome, Angelman syndrome, Williams syndrome, and Rett syndrome. Few investigations directly studied humor appreciation and comprehension. Humor comprehension was reportedly supported by gestures. Some groups with intellectual disabilities found non-literal humor (e.g., sarcasm, irony) more difficult to understand, which may affect social relationships. Various types of humor were found to be appreciated. The role of humor in relationship development, social facilitation, creativity, and stigma had all received some limited attention. Humor also played a role for carer groups in coping with and enjoying the caring role. Research varied in quality with few experimental studies and mainly quasi-experimental and well-conducted, qualitative studies.Conclusions: This review revealed the importance of humor behavior in many aspects of the social lives of people with intellectual disabilities. Limited disparate research exists pertaining to humor in this group, suggesting the need for further robust research in this area, including more high quality primary research in the areas of humor production, appreciation, comprehension, and stigma.

Materiality, Corporeality, and Relationality in Older Human–Robot Interaction (OHRI)

“…The stand-up comedy approach is also more accessible for creating humorous situations. Humour is an integral part of social interaction, and, in some caring contexts, it serves as a coping strategy with mental and physical health effects [39]. According to [40], technologies such as robots and hand-held equipment could represent a tool to bring humour and joy into the everyday lives and events of older adults through human-robot interaction.…”

Laughter and humour for personal development: A systematic scoping review of the evidence

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Beyond laughter and smiles

“…Most social media posts about COVID-19 tend to be primarily negative or serious, whereas humorous posts can deal with the same serious issue by pointing out "the funny or ironic aspects of a situation" (Phillips-Kumaga et al 2022). The sense of humour can facilitate the restructuring of a crisis situation so it is less stressful (Abel 2002), thereby making people receptive to messages which they would otherwise not have been open to (Ogba 2021) hence promoting positive social interaction and solidarity (Chadwick & Platt 2018;Uwen & Ushie 2022). The general posts mainly deal with topics such as COVID-19 tests and deaths (Ahmed et al 2021), misconceptions and complaints about COVID-19 control (Kwok et al 2021), the spread of the virus, and bans and orders (Norstrom & Sarna 2021).…”