Joking around with your brothers and sisters shapes your sense of humour

Two siblings are playing on the living room floor. The girl, aged six, looks at her brother, and smiling, sings: “A, B, C, D, E, F – R!” Her older brother, aged seven, grins and joins in with: “H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, PEE! Get it? Pee! Pee-pee!” Both fall about laughing.

You may remember similar silly exchanges with your own brother or sister when you were growing up. Research has shown that sibling relationships play an important role in child development. It is one of the most enduring relationships and is characterised by closeness, cooperation, conflict and play. Now our research has taken us a step closer to finding out just how important sharing humour with a sibling may be.

Humour is a universal part of the human experience. But although it has long been of interest to philosophers and psychologists, relatively few studies have explored the types of humour young children produce in their close relationships.

From the research that has been done, we know that from a young age, children take delight in unexpected or surprising events. In infancy, they are amused by peekaboo and clowning around with their caregivers. As toddlers, children demonstrate an increasingly advanced...