It’s no secret that dad jokes have divided people. Some find them super funny and absurdly amusing, others don’t get the whole excitement about this relatively new comedy sub-genre that takes cringe to an entirely new level. But isn’t it the same with all jokes?
So in order to find out more about how and why people find some jokes funny and others not so much, Bored Panda reached out to British neuroscientist and Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow at University College London, Sophie Scott. Her research investigates the cognitive neuroscience of voices, speech and laughter, particularly speech perception, speech production, vocal emotions, and human communication.
First off, let’s find out what it takes to get a joke. After all, it shouldn’t be rocket science, right? Well, according to Sophie, it’s not a particularly easy question. “The first thing you need to understand [joke] and the intended meaning that makes it funny. One simple thing about not getting a joke is not realizing that it's a joke at all, assuming that someone is being serious and saying something stupid.”
But in order to do so, Sophie argues that you need to be receptive to the idea that it’s a joke. “It often has to do with as much as the person telling the joke or where the joke is coming from, as much as the content of a joke.”
It turns out that there are different theories of humor and what makes things funny. Sophie said it may be “the idea that sometimes you laugh because it makes you feel better about yourself, you feel superior to tell the joke.” Other theories say that “you laugh because there’s some sort of complexity set up and then it’s resolved and that’s part of getting the joke.”
The reason we laugh may also have to do with “some kind of taboo” which is okay when mentioned in the joke context. “Or often,” Sophie continued: “we laugh because laughter is behavior associated in humans and other mammals with play.”
According to the neuroscientist, one of the important roles for jokes is “just to be playful and you’re kind of acknowledging that and what has been done for you in the name of play.” Sophie believes that jokes have less to do with our absolute personalities and more with who we are and our life experiences. The things we find funny may also be directly influenced by the relationship with the person who’s telling the joke.
“If you don’t like someone or if you think they’re up to no good, you’re very unlikely to find their jokes funny,” Sophie explained and added: “Or if you don’t realize someone’s being funny, you won’t find it funny. Whereas if you like someone, you're gonna find what they say funnier.”
That’s also true for the fact that if you know the person to be a comedian, which means they're a funny person, you are more likely to find that joke very funny, according to Sophie.
The reception of a joke is also key, since “if other people are laughing back, that joke seems to be funny.” At the same time, “there’s no rule that says that just because you’re telling a joke everyone has to laugh.”
“There’s no one thing that everybody finds funny because people have different life experiences that mean someone may go like 'that’s very funny and I can see you laughing, but actually, that’s how my brother died, you know,’” Sophie said jokingly and concluded that “there’s no given, you may have personal reasons not to laugh.”
Bored Panda also talked to Janet M. Gibson, a professor of psychology at Grinnell College who’s the author of “An Introduction to the Psychology of Humor.” A part of Janet’s research focuses on the role of cognitive processes in appreciating or comprehending humor, so she had a lot to share on the subject matter.
In order to get a joke, Janet argues, “we have to use cognitive, social, and emotional brain power to form expectations of what was supposed to happen, see how the punchline or unexpected event puts a playful spin on things, figure out the social context to know whether the unexpected event was intended or offensive, and we have to empathize with the joke teller, character in the joke, or audience to know what is going on.”
But that’s not all. “It also takes a willingness to play—we have to be willing to have fun, whether it is with language, social expectations, or be amused by the absurdities of the situation.” Moreover, if we are lucky, there are cues to help to get that joke. “Like the joke teller is smiling or others are laughing, and then we try to figure out why, search for alternate meanings, and pull from memory what other meanings are possible in this context.”
On the other hand, Janet explained that “if it is too much work to do the figuring out, we tend to feel puzzled rather than delighted or amused.”
A good deal of research investigates correlations between types of jokes and personality, “but it is not a straightforward story,” Janet said. “For example, if you like jokes that poke fun at death, this does not mean you have death anxiety or are sick. If you like the Three Stooges, it doesn't mean you are a knucklehead. In fact, people who like sick jokes tend to score high on openness to experience and high on social intelligence.”
“Now, there is a correlation between liking aggressive humor if you have an aggressive personality, but these categories are very general, and, for the most part, many people with diverse personalities like the same kind of humor,” Janet explained.
On the other hand, most people tend to “like humor that elevates the mood, to help everyone feel good.” What we find funny also depends on our cultural attitudes, worldviews, and beliefs that all “help shape whether you like jokes where animals act like humans, for example.”
Janet said that some joke preferences “might indicate darker personality traits, but it depends on the context and why the jokes were being told.” For example, “The social situation might drive our amusement more than the joke itself. Introverts have a sense of humor, but extroverts show it more, because they are more comfortable sharing humor in front of others,” the professor concluded.