Investigating the Effects of Instructional Humor in Multimedia Learning when Humor Pre-Disposition, Prior-Knowledge, and Working Memory are Controlled

Abstract

This study examined whether instructional humor (IH) was not just another type of seductive detail when covariates such as humor pre-disposition, prior-knowledge, and working memory capacity were controlled. Participants were students (N = 228) from universities who were randomly assigned two stimuli conditions in the classic experimental design. The data analysis involved a MANCOVA in SPSS and ANCOVA in R-WRS2 package (for DVs with non-homogenous variances) to control the covariates. The data from both null hypothesis significance testing and Bayesian factor design analysis showed that the data were in favor of outcomes which demonstrated that although IHCALM was funnier (p < .01) it was not another type of a seductive detail that harmed learning (p > 0.05). It was less interesting (p < .01), yet made the participants more aware of what they did not learn (p < 0.01). The practical and theoretical implications of teaching with IHCALM were also discussed.