Who needs Mensa when we can measure IQ with sick jokes? Indeed, this study finds that intelligence plays a key role in accepting dark humor.
A team of researchers led by Ulrike Willinger from the University of Medicine in Vienna, she captured 156 people with an average age 33 years, of this 76 women. They had to assess understanding and enjoyment of 12 fun ones, but gloomy illustrations a prominent German cartoonist Ulija Stein.
Examples included illustrations such as a woman in a morgue before a doctor lifts a sheet from a dead man. The woman confirms his identity in the style: "Of course this is my husband! Anyway, what washing powder did you use to make the sheet so white?”
Participants research were also tested for verbal and nonverbal IQ, they were asked about mood, aggression and education.
In the end, 3 groups were formed from the participants.
- The first group with the highest acceptance and by understanding dark humor also achieved the highest results in verbal and non-verbal IQ tests, they had the best education, and they were also the least prone to aggression and bad mood.
- Another group showed moderate understanding of such jokes, but she enjoyed them. These were the people with average test scores, but most prone to negativism and aggression.
- A third group also showed a moderate understanding of dark humor, the IQ-test results were also average, but they were much more positive, and the tendency to aggression was moderate.
These findings contradict previous theories about the relationship between aggression and humor. In 1905, Freud assumed that humor enables the safe release of normally repressed sexual needs and aggression. Willinger and her team, on the other hand, believe that dark humor is about complex data processing, where a negative mood or aggression might cloud a person's ability to understand a joke.
More information:
springer.com
