The Intelligence of Humor

Humor is sexy. Humor is healthy. Humor is intelligent. Intelligent? How can laughing at my friend spurting milk through the nose be intelligent?

And yet dozens of different studies on the link between humor and intelligence in the past 40 years have rendered the same results: understanding and using humor are closely linked to intelligence. The more sophisticated the joke, the higher the IQ of the individual.

And while intelligence and education don’t always go hand in hand, some of the most successful modern comedians actually emerged from elite Universities: John Cleese (Cambridge), Eric Idle (Cambridge), Michael Palin (Oxford), Dudley Moore (Oxford), Emma Thompson (Cambridge), Rowan Atkinson (Oxford), Sacha Baron Cohen (Cambridge), Hugh Laurie (Cambridge) and Stephen Fry (Cambridge).

As we all know, there are different degrees of humor: a chuckle, a smile, a giggle, a laugh, a belly laugh, impossible to stop laughter. But, what sparks each one of these states?

Our perception of what is funny - what makes us laugh- is directly linked to our personalities, cognitive factors and psychological identities.

Rowan Atkinson, Oxford Graduate, as ‘Mr. Bean’.

Humor seems to have developed in our ancestor’s brains both as a communication skill and a social tool to help keep good neighboring relations in our first primitive societies. A good command of humor kept troubles at bay, reduced frictions and eased away conflicts, thus enhancing the probability of survival. 

A proof that sense of humor is inherent to the human brain’s development is that it already can already be found in children as young as 12 months old.

Humor seems to develop in the brain along language skills, and according to some studies, by age 6 the brain of a child already responds to humor in a similar way as adults do, which demonstrates the importance of this skill in evolutionary terms.

Humor is a very complex, highly specialised mental process that requires  mental sharpness, social empathy, a good command of language, rhythm, knowledge and understanding of social conventions, and a skilful use of irony and contradictions.

Our sense of humor changes with age. The more we live, we develop a deeper understanding and a different response to humour. The simple jokes that made us crack when we were little now barely make us smile, but more complex jokes requiring a deeper level of understanding make us laugh with gusto.

This is because, as our cognitive abilities develop, part of the pleasure we experience from a joke comes from the mental activity required to understand it.

Although not all humor can be catalogued as ‘smart’ (for instance, fart and potty jokes), a certain level of intelligence is required  in order to simply understand a situation as humorous.

Humor stimulates several brain areas at the same time. Social humor is processed by the frontoinsular cortex and anterior cingulate cortex, which regulates attention, decision-making, morality, impulse control and emotion.

The visual puns are processed by the extrastriate cortex, located next to the primary visual cortex of the brain; and nonsense humor (such as my friend spurting milk through the nose) is processed by the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex, which regulates complex cognitive behaviour, personality expression and social behaviour.

In addition, the left posterior temporal gyrus, the left inferior frontal gyrus and the temporoparietal junction work together to make us grasp the relationships between the incongruous elements in a joke, and thus understand its humor. Finally, the ventral striatum allows us to perceive pleasure in the humor.

Its quite a jog for the brain!

Image: New Scientist

There are several cognitive factors that influence our understanding of humor, some of which are age, sex, cultural biases, cultural era, personal experiences, education and level of intelligence.

For a joke to work, it is necessary that both the audience and the joker may have the same level of information and may share similar views. If one of these factors is missing, the joke will fall flat. Even the simplest jokes are based on this basic structure.

Humour uses the juxtaposition of contradictions, the improbable, the unexpected, the absurd, the unusual, abstractions and exaggerations to connect ideas and generate a jocular response.

Intelligence is required both to create these links and to decipher them into a congruent meaning.

Our cognitive development determines 

our taste in humour

In the research published as ‘The Great Comedians: Personality and Other Factors’ in the American Journal of Psychoanalysis, Dr. Samuel S. Janus revealed that the I.Q. scores of the 55 professional comedians who participated in the study ranged from 115 to over 160, with a mean score of 138 (the average is 90-110).

He concluded that “comedians are keenly sensitive people who have an uncanny perception of the needs and fears of their audience (...), are empathic and are able to convert fear to humor and terror to laughter.” All of which point at a high interpersonal and linguistic intelligence, according to the theory of  multiple intelligences developed by Dr. Howard Gardner.

Comedians use humor as a valve of escape to express their anger and frustration in a socially acceptable manner, and also to seek acceptance and empathy. 

In a recent study lead by Dr. Ulrike Willinger at the Medical University in Vienna, researchers found that the group with the highest levels of appreciation and comprehension of the jokes shown (dark humor) also got the highest IQ scores in verbal and non-verbal tests, were better educated and received the lowest scores for aggression and bad mood than the rest of the participant subjects.

According to Dr. Willinger, these results suggest that processing dark humor is a complex information-processing task requiring an advanced level of cognitive ability.

The connection between Intelligence and humor is clear. And yet, there’s plenty of intelligent people who do not seem to have much of a sense of humour. How can this be explained?

Taking into consideration that there are different senses of humor, one thing is to react to the humour (as a recipient) and another is to create the humour (as a producer). As a mental response, humour is an in-born skill, just like being good with numbers or being naturally gifted for music.

Not having the talent to be witty or humorous doesn’t necessarily diminish a subject’s intelligence. However, being unable to perceive nuances of humor (in ironies, double-meanings, subtle insinuations, etc.) may point to cognitive or psychological issues.

Humour is closely linked to mental health. Patients with severe mental disorders often lose their ability to understand humour, or find humour in things that normal people find terrifying or disturbing.

Cartoon by Gary Larson

Among many other health benefits, laughing increases oxygen intake, stimulates the heart, lungs and muscles and increases our levels of endorphins, the hormone responsible for blocking pain and giving us a sense of euphoria.

The benefits of humor in brain health has been studied by a group of scientists at Loma Linda University, rendering positive benefits which help counteract the damages caused by the stress hormone cortisol in the brain, which include memory loss and learning difficulties.

In addition, laughing aids to muscle relaxation and stimulates circulation, all of which in turn helps to the health and overall wellbeing of the individual.

However, for all its benefits, not all humor is equal, either for our brains or our health.

According to a research lead by Dr. Nicholas Kuiper and published by the International Journal of Humor Research,  adaptative types of humor (affiliative to others, and the self-deprecating type) are associated with good self-esteem, anxiety control and positive social interactions.

On the other hand, maladaptative types of humor (aggressive, self-hating) are associated with poorer psychological wellbeing and higher levels of anxiety and depression.

Interestingly, according to a recent study based on a population of College students, a good sense of humor is a crucial characteristic looked for in romantic partners, for 90% of the men and 81% of the women.

Thus, humor may enhance our attractiveness to the opposite sex.

However, scientists have also found that men and women have different forms of humor.

In a study on this subject, Dr. Nick Neave, a psychologist at the University of Northumbria, found that, while women joked less frequently than men and were more prone to encouraging remarks, 75% of men attempted some kind of humor and were more prone to use aggressive humor, specially while around other men.

This, Dr. Neave explains, is due to testosterone. Humor, he suggests, may have evolved as a mating strategy in men, and turns aggressive whenever he feels threatened by the competition.

Despite the fun it gives us, humor is a complex subject - and that’s no joke!

Humor contributes to our overall health and wellbeing, it can makes us more attractive, it gives our brains a jog and it can help us cope with stress and the bumps in the road of life. Its no secret that people with a healthy sense of humor live longer and happier!

Regardless of the type of humor you favor, enjoying a daily dose of good humor is the smartest way to live life and add important benefits to your health, wellbeing, smarts and attractiveness. So, laugh on!

Sources: Psychology Today, ‘The Psychology of Humor’ by Rod A. Martin, New Scientist, American Psychology Association, International Journal of Humor Research, American Journal of Psychoanalysis, BBC News.