Let's capture the "interestingness of manzai" through the observation method
Various research methods have been developed in psychology.Typical methods include experimental methods, questionnaire survey methods, interview methods, and observation methods.In the Psychological Research Methods course, students can systematically learn these methods from multiple faculty members.
This time, I will introduce the observation method in it.The observation method is a method of inferring a person's psychology through observing a person's behavior.For example, in the method of natural observation, the causes of behavior are inferred by collecting and analyzing data on natural activities such as numerical values and words.It is a very classical method, and it is known that Charles Darwin who won the Nobel Prize also used it.Although there are various caveats, the observation method is regarded as an effective method for better understanding phenomena and behavioral processes and inferring their causes.
In the observation method practice, we used "manzai" as a theme and considered an index that can measure "interestingness of manzai".In the practical training, we hypothesized that the amount of audience laughter would be an indicator of the fun of the comedy, and measured the frequency of audience laughter during the Manzai Grand Prix.
As a result, the frequency of laughter did not show a significant correlation* with either the students' evaluation of the funnyness of the manzai or the Grand Prix judges' evaluation of the funnyness (Figures 1 and 2).
In other words, there does not seem to be a strong relationship between the amount of laughter during a manzai and the evaluation of the funniness of the manzai.However, if we look a little more closely, we can see that in the manzai that was highly evaluated by the judges and students for its funniness, the frequency of laughter increased around 60 seconds from the start of the manzai, near the end of the manzai (Fig. 3).This tendency was not seen in manzai that the judges and students rated as uninteresting (Fig. 4).
This result indicates that the point at which laughter occurs in a manzai may determine the fun of the manzai.
This time, we talked about practical training using observation methods, but as I introduced at the beginning, psychology has various research methods for measuring (guessing) people's minds.
By learning research methods, you may be able to find clues to solutions to your familiar questions.
* If there is a rule that when the value of one is large, the value of the other is also large, and vice versa, when the value of one is small, the value of the other is small.A relationship is said to be "significant" if it is not obtained by chance.
Faculty of Psychology Department of Psychology Eichi Tomita
⇒ Faculty of Psychology page
