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August 23, 2026Active Learning in Higher EducationOpen Access

No Funny Business: Instructor Humour as Pedagogical Leadership in Transformational Teaching

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Authors

NCNaor CohenSASean AlexanderDPDeclan Powell

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Overview

Survey study reveals course-related and self-disparaging humor enhance transformational teaching perceptions in undergraduates, suggesting instructional humor acts as pedagogical leadership.

Key Points

  • To evaluate how instructors' use of course-related and self-disparaging humor relates to student perceptions of transformational teaching, and whether student educational orientations moderate these associations.
  • Surveyed 362 Canadian undergraduate business students.
  • Conducted hierarchical regression analyses guided by Instructional Humour Processing Theory and transformational teaching frameworks.
  • Perceptions of transformational teaching were positively associated with both course-related humor (B = 1.67, p < .001) and self-disparaging humor (B = 0.77, p = .001).
  • The positive relationship between self-disparaging humor and transformational teaching was weaker among students with high learning orientation (B = −0.06, p = .044), whereas grade orientation exerted no moderating effect.

Cite This Study

Cohen et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a8aada77677a34114445f21https://doi.org/10.1177/14697874261472896
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Also Consider

Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context:

  1. 1Teacher humour as a predictor of student emotions and motivation: the mediating role of socio-emotional and motivational factors2026 · 2 citations
  2. 2Professors laughing at themselves too much: the negative effects of instructor self-defeating humor2026
  3. 3Humour as pedagogical strategy: an empirical study of its effects on student engagement and academic outcomes in Indian educational institutions2026
  4. 4Is Humour a Feature of Instructional Quality?2025
  5. 5Should mathematics teachers be humorous? A study based on the instructional humor processing theory2025