If you like sick jokes, maybe it ’s because you’re just so smart

By Christian Jarrett Understanding jokes requires a certain amount of mental agility, psychologists tell us, because you need to recognise a sudden shift in meaning, or appreciate the blending of odd contexts that don’t normally go together. A new study in the journal Cognitive Processing has tested whether intelligence plays the same role in the appreciation of sick or black humour: the kind of jokes that make light of death, illness and the vulnerable. Consistent with past research linking intelligence with joke appreciation, the participants who most liked cartoons based on black humour also scored highest on verbal and non-verbal IQ. Fourteen researchers, led by Ulrike Willinger at the Medical University of Vienna, asked 156 participants, with an average age of 33 and including 76 women, to rate their comprehension and enjoyment of 12 black humour cartoons taken from The Black Book by Uli Stein. For instance, one cartoon depicted a confused man holding a public telephone, the voice coming from the phone saying: “Here is the answering machine of the self-help association for Alzheimer patients. If you still remember your topic, please speak after the tone.” The participants also completed basic tests of their verbal and non-verbal IQ and answered questions about their mood, aggressive tendencies and educational background. The researchers identified three distinct groups of participants based on their understanding and appreciation for the sick car...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Cognition In Brief Intelligence Laughter Source Type: blogs