ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that the prediction was tested with third-, fifth-, and seventh-grade children of both sexes. For children in grades two through four Zigler et al. were able to demonstrate that as the children’s ability to comprehend a group of 25 cartoons increased, the magnitude of their mirth responses increased. Zigler et al. did find some evidence that cartoons which were at the upper limit of the child’s ability to comprehend evoked the greatest amount of laughter. This generates the hypothesis that the mirth response is greatest when the complexity of the humor stimulus and the complexity of the child’s cognitive structure are congruent. The order of presentation of each set of cartoons was randomized with the restriction that neither of the first two cartoons would be nearly impossible ones, and that two nearly impossible cartoons would not appear consecutively.
