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As a some-time stand-up comic, Robert Lynch wondered why some people in the audience howled with laugher, while others sat stony-faced. Research and anecdotal evidence have found that people look for friends and mates with senses of humor, but he couldn’t grasp why some people got it and others seemed puzzled.
“It had to be something pretty fundamental about humor,” says Lynch, a doctoral student in evolutionary anthropology at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.
At the time, his advisor and co-author, Robert Trivers, was writing a book about self-deception, so Lynch decided to look at how self-deception -- basically, lying to yourself -- influenced sense of humor. He found that the more someone practiced self-deception, the less likely they were to genuinely laugh.
Lynch asked 59 college students (33 female, 26 male) to watch a 28-minute video of comedian Bill Burr’s stand-up. (This is a departure; most humor research uses jokes from joke books, which, let’s face it, only people without senses of humor and your weird uncle find funny.) Each subject watched the show alone while the researchers videotaped the reactions. Participants also filled out a survey to reveal whether they practiced self-deception and then answered some additional questions about mood, extraversion, and whether they enjoyed the comedian.
“Humor is intrinsically difficult to study. Robert's genius was to measure it precisely via FACS, a facial identification system that can isolate different kinds and intensities of laughter,” says Trivers, professor of anthropology and biological sciences at Rutgers University.
Lynch examined the videos and coded each person’s reaction using FACS, or facial action coding system, which links slight facial changes to emotions. He recorded the actions per frame, noting the duration and intensity of each. Specifically, he looked at the lips to see if students smiled with a Duchenne smile, which is an involuntary and genuine grin. Also, he watched the eyes. People can fake a guffaw or a smile, but FACS ensures he could tell if students genuinely smiled or forced it.
“Real smiles come from the eyes,” Lynch says, noting it’s impossible to fake an authentic laugh.
Self-deceivers were less likely to laugh at the stand-up comic than those who were more honest. Lynch suspects that it’s because comedians often joke about taboo topics, and those who are lying to themselves can’t chuckle because they feel it would be too revealing.
“[Laughter] is an honest, involuntary emotional signal and it is signaling enjoyment. People who are self-deceptive could be more concerned with honest signaling. It’s a little bit dangerous for them to be laughing because they don’t get it themselves and there are concealing the truth to themselves and they are concealing it to others,” Lynch says.
The paper, “Self-deception inhibits laughter,” is available online at the journal Personality and Individual Differences.
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Or perhaps smarter people simply find less things funny since they're more likely to react to jokes that are genuinely clever or insightful instead of the slapstick we pass off as humor here. It would be more interesting to see the scale of reactions measured against intelligence rather than self-deception.
I agree that there are many different levels of humor that appeal to different levels of intellect. However, the smartest people I've known (I'm a scientist, so I've known a lot) have also laughed the most, and for the most part respond to fart jokes with the same enthusiasm as more high-brow humor. Smart people - I think - are much more likely to find humor in more situations, not less, because they are able to make connections across more levels. Or maybe scientists are just goofy.
Not sure about intelligence -- or self-deception -- but I do know that things often strike me funny when they are startling, original, unexpected, and give me some humorous insight into the topic.
I didn't find the clowns who stumble around and 'hurt' themselves funny as a kid. I felt bad for them. As an adult, most of the time I don't find jokes that put down others funny. Or most 'potty' jokes (I've spent too much time around 8-year-old boys to find them very original.) And watching -- or hearing about -- people doing stupid things makes me cringe, not laugh.
On the other hand, there are times I find Jon Stewart hilarious. (I'm not as fond of Colbert's humor, though he does occasionally make me guffaw.) And often things that kids say make me laugh out loud -- even if they might be 'inappropriate' at times. I have also been known to laugh out loud while I'm reading a book...
Maybe there is a correlation with empathy...
Really I think that those who say they don't laugh at less clever humor are exactly the people they are talking about in the article. Holding oneself "above" laughing at simple humor is part of the deception. They aren't any better or smarter than those who do.
Of course we all find some things funny that others wouldn't. It is not a matter of intelligence, but of taste. You might not find a fart joke funny that someone else does because simply..you don't like fart jokes. Doesn't make it less clever, just not your style.
morrigan: I couldn't have said it better myself. I have frequent discussions with my teenage son regarding my supposed lack of a sense of humor. Without going into detail regarding the myriad inanities that teenage boys find funny, or the whole genre of cable shows targeted at that inanity, I try to explain to him that put-downs, humiliation and body humor simply don't strike me as funny.
I admit that there are other forms of humor where I'm the one in the room left puzzled and thinking to myself, "I don't get it." But I don't think it's because I'm being self-deceptive. (Naive is probably a more accurate term).
Your comments about Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are spot on, and reassure me that I DO have a sense of humor, even if I can only take Comedy Central in small doses.
Well, if we're going to be looking to anecdotal evidence, I have an exceptionally high IQ, and I find Bill Burr very funny for the most part. I enjoy a blend of humor. The humor I don't enjoy tends to be the kind that vilifies being intellectual, or the kind that exalts being extremely stupid (think Larry the Cable Guy). I get the jokes, and I may even laugh at them (laughter is a largely involutary reaction), but I get tired of the general subject matter, and tend to avoid that type of comedy. But I also enjoy comedians like Bill Cosby, Bill Maher, Jerry Clower, Joe Rogan, Daniel Tosh, Gabriel Iglesias, and Jimmy Carr. Quite a blend of high-brow and low-brow if you ask me. I don't think that being intellectual limits your ability to understand different types of humor. I can get all kinds of humor including dry witicism, wry observation, unrealistic and contrived scenarios, and crude references (scatology, sexual humor, etc.). And I'm usually laughing the hardest in my group of friends.
I needed to add this because it addresses the main post, and many posts below. The study did not show that self-deceptive people did not find him as humorous, and had nothing to do with the sense of humor that a self-deceptive person does or does not have.
The study measured facial reactions to find out when people found the joke funny, but didn't show any overt, outward reaction (laughing, grinning, etc.). Then, they compared that to the self-deception index, and found that people that scored higher on the self-deceptive scale also tended to not laugh as much at things they actually found amusing.
It's not whether they found him funny, but whether they laughed when they *did* find him funny.
Rev -
Truth is we've all been writing these apparently uneducated posts to see how long it would take to make your head explode.
Where's your sense of humor?
I don't think education has anything to do with sense of humor. I know a lot of PhDs who find Family Guy hilarious. Let's face it the show is one long fart joke. Regardless of education some people seem to present an air of jaded superiority and they just don't like to laugh. Laughing can indicate that you are naive or haven't been around the block enough times to be bored with something. People like this usually are more concerned with image - what kind of car they drive, what designer made their hand bag, being seen at the right clubs, etc. When your focus is on image you are a self deceptive person. You must deny your interests and nature in order to craft a persona that you feel others will be interested in. You hold back and find those who do not to be "low-brow" and not nearly as refined as yourself. As a result you no longer laugh at fart jokes. People who are secure in their identity and base their worth on more than just possessions and image are honest enough to see the humor in even the basest and off-color gag, while being secure enough to not be ashamed at laughing out loud in front of others.
That's my take.
Ooh, that's a bit snobbish, don't you think? People don't like low-brow humor because they're too insecure? Couldn't be because fart jokes just aren't funny?
I agree 100% with AG99!! I have never found raunchy, gutter humor to be funny. I laugh at what's truly clever as well as funny. Raunchy stuff is just stupid.
(double post)
I bet you don't laugh much.
I would be interested to find out if humor is acquired or inherited. My in-laws were always what I call "buttoned up" and rarely laughed at jokes. My family, is the complete opposite. While my husband retains the reserved stance and rarely laughs at jokes (he does laugh, but it's a rare occasion and jokes usually induce a smirk, at most) both our kids laugh easily. Not sure about the intelligence factor - I've met loads of intelligent people who love a good joke!
I didn't say intelligent people don't love a good joke. I was merely questioning whether the humor shown these subjects was too low-brow to be funny. Everyone loves a good joke.
Good point AG - humor is very much dependent on the material. I don't know/don't care if I'm more or less intelligent then others but I do find stand up based on tired stereotypes to be the opposite of funny but other stand up to be great. Sometime the same comedian is hit or miss (for me) like Louis C.K. It would have been nice if the researcher used a few different comedians to see if the trend held.
I laugh easily and often at the antics of my grandbabies, dogs and the weirdness of life..I find most comedy unfunny and too planned to be spontaneous. Pain and misfortune do not amuse me nor does causing another person discomfort. True humor, to me, is usually totally unexpected and cannot be planned. I'm no smarter or dumber than the average person, I just have my own thought patterns. I don't think that makes a person more or less honest with themselves or others..it's just another difference between individuals and differences are a good thing and to be cherished.
AG99 perhaps you should youtube Bill Burr and see it for yourself.
@Stephaniecali, stay tuned: We may answer your question ("Is a sense of humor acquired or inherited?") in an upcoming Body Odd post ...
I'm one of those who do not laugh easily. When I find something that is truly funny, I go all out. I think laughter is contagious. Someone else will laugh and other people will laugh to join up. What I really hate is situation comedies. A person on the show will say something that is not in any way funny, but the person in the sound booth will hit a button and you hear laughter. I guess that is why I don't watch situation comedies. To me, laughter is earned, not bought.
So people who don't laugh at poor, unwitty, or unoriginal comedy are self deceiving? As observed by a part time comedian who thinks Burr is funny?
No...people who are self deceiving might not laugh as much. They didn't watch a group of people and label those who didn't laugh as self deceiving. The self deceiving part came from the survey the test subjects filled out and the researcher just noted a correlation between not laughing and being self deceiving.
I would laugh at poor, unwitty or unoriginal comedy simply because it is bad. I like bad jokes just as much as good jokes!
Many "jokes" involve "turning the tables" on someone percieved to be in a more desirable position. I.e., "getting even" with the rich, powerful, or heroic figure who has the audacity to respect him/herself. It's a form of relief for the guy who considers himself to be unfairly scorned. "Ha ha ha, now you won't think you are better than I am". Maybe people who don't laugh are people who don't consider themselves to be victims to begin with.
Wow you must be a fun person to be around. Most jokes rely on either funny truths that are exaggerated a bit or setting up a situation and then the punch line being something that you wouldn't expect to happen with the situation that was set up. I've never seen a comedian who made a joke where I thought he was trying to be funny by putting someone in their place.
Now that's an interesting idea. Give a survey on whether you feel you're a victim and then see how it correlates to laughing.
I saw a definition of humor once that said most of it boils down to "glad that's not happening to me." Victimization ties into that.
Depression can also cause people to not laugh at something . While they may find something humorous, they may be unable to respond in the normal manner.
I always feel weird when I go to a "funny" movie and it seems like I'm the only one who isn't laughing. I don't feel like I'm fooling myself though. I just think I have a different sense of humor than most people.
I have noticed though if I'm watching something "funny" and everyone else is cracking up at every single joke I tend to just get annoyed so anything that might be funny to me is ruined.
Human nature to watch a train wreck....and guffaw
Life is hard. It is harder when you're stupid.
We are giving ourselves permission to be human when we allow ourselves to laugh. After all, if you are really paying attention...life is pretty funny.
So they spend a lot of time telling us how they measure reaction to jokes, and no explanation of how they measure "self deception", and no explanation for why they think the two are related.
There are standard methods in psychology to measure things like self-deception. I appologize that they don't go more into their complete methodology for your benefit.
As to how they think the two are related, it's simple. Person A laughs and scores low on self-deception, and person B doesn't and scores high. Multiply that by about a dozen and a half times, and you have the study field. So, if the people who scored high on self-deception are also near the bottom of the list for laughter, there is a correlation.
It's like when they were studying heart disease; since the people with more cholesterol made up more of the "heart disease" group, they found a correlation.
What I think you are thinking of is "causation", the "why" of the relation. But you first have to establish correlation before you can start researching causation.
I think that Robert Lynch is deceiving himself if he believes that a study group of 59 college students and a 28 minute video of one comedian becomes a valid sample of humanities views on comedy.
The saying of "different stokes for different folks" has a lot of merit here. As said by others, some sorts of comedy just aren't funny to some people.
I also believe there are those that laugh aloud and there are those that laugh inside. Because you make more noise and facial expression than another person doesn't mean that person didn't find it humorous.
Maybe people who laugh out loud do so to be heard as it strokes their ego. Who knows? But I really think this "study" is another useless effort in trying to fit people in "properly labeled" boxes.
How is it not a valid sample? I find that people on these boards don't have an accurate perception of how research works. First, they have to do a small study (like this one) so show that there is some sort of link. That then provides them with the necessary base to warrant funding for a larger, more representative sample to do a more comprehensive research study on. Then, if the results still pan out that there is a correlation, they can apply for funding to look into causation; whether being self-deceptive causes you to not laugh at things as much, or if both are simply symptoms of another underlying cause.
Also, there is nothing in the article that states that the self-deceptive group did not find it humorous; on the contrary, they measure facial reaction to see if they found it humorous and didn't display it, and then measured that against the self-deceptive index. The result is that people who hide their laughter tended to be more self-deceptive, not that self-deceptive people didn't find it humorous.
a very intriguing article but why didn't they mention maybe some didn't laugh because they thought the comedian sucked? i don't laugh at patton oswalt not because i'm self deceptive but because i think he's a horrible comedian and totally not funny. yet i find louis ck, garry shandling, stephen lynch, larry david, and daniel tosh all very funny and generally laugh uncontrollably during their routines/tv shows. i don't think because i don't laugh at patton oswalt to be some manifestation of self-deception. on a side i know lots of folks like patton oswalt and i'm not hating or trolling him i just don't find him funny is all.
on a side note that's totally anecdotal i've also noticed that sometimes i find a comic totally hilarious but just don't laugh. is that self-deception? i mean even if it's just me at home on my couch. i don't think so because i will rewatch the same comic doing the same routine later and be lol'ing. why would i be self-deceptive at one moment and not at another. again these are not scientific observations and are purely anecdotal but i'd be interested in seeing some scientific study into them as i cannot be the only one with these observations.
Joe Dirt's mom laughed at clowns whenever she felt depressed after dumping Joe off in the trash can next to the Grand Canyon.
I never laugh at clowns. They are depressing. Ronald McDonald is the scariest. He may be a pedophile preist, is what I heard.
Humor is too subjective for me to believe that this study has merit. Different people can find vastly different things amusing, for wildly different reasons.
For instance, I find videos of people hurting themselves while performing stupid stunts or inadvisable actions hilarious, but not people getting accidentally hurt through no real fault of their own. Fall while dancing - not funny. Fall while dancing precariously on a card table - funny. Why? Probably because I feel the people doing stupid things deserve their injuries. I can be cruel that way (and admitting that is probably a sign that I'm not self-deceiving.)
Then there's reaction differences: Why do I chuckle, while the guy on my right laughs, the guy on my left doesn't, and the guy behind me howls like a crazed cackling maniac, pounding his leg and the back of my chair?
I kind of doubt that it's because the guy behind me has achieved some sort of self-perceptual nirvana.
But it's not about *whether they found him funny*, but *whether they laughed at him when they found him funny*.
Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that as you get older, you laugh less? As a kid, even into my early 20's, it seemed like every time friends got together we would laugh until we cried or peed our pants. Now, it takes an extraordinary effort to extract a laugh like that from me. Sad, really. Laughing is good for the soul.
Suze... I was wondering the same thing and have noticed for quite a while that I don't laugh nearly as much as I used to. Some tried to make comments that it's about intelligence.... my IQ is pretty respectable but can't say I really like that reasoning very much. The weird thing is that I'm the most content and relaxed I've ever been in my life. Some 'humor' that others find hilarious are videos like America's funniest videos or shows/movies such as JackAss (which both can be funny as hell but makes me REALLY cringe to think of potential injuries. Does anyone really find Tosh.0 funny??? Does compassion come into play and make so called humor that could be incredibly hurtful to others not so funny (think misogynist or gay bashing jokes). Jokes aimed at person's who end up as a target of the media is not funny... all you have to do is put yourself in those people's shoes (God forbid any of us do something the general population doesn't understand or agree with and we're an immediate target... it's bullying). But give me Stephen Lynch (and yes, his songs can be pretty mean but OMG so freaking funny!) or let me watch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart or Steven Colbert and I GET the humor.. and it's so great! I think the study is very limited... but would truly love to hear from the researchers if we do laugh less as we mature and why exactly this occurs. For me it's probably that I have too much empathy.
This is one of the stupidest things I've ever read. Leaving aside the incredibly small sample size, these people were shown one comedian. Maybe not everyone has the same taste in humor? And is it valid for a scientific study to define what "funny" is in this way for the participants?
Also, how can anyone possibly give an honest answer to a question like "Do you practice self-deception?" Doesn't it follow that those who practiced the best self-deception would be the least likely to answer the question in the positive? People are notoriously bad judges of themselves and the question "Do you practice self-deception?" seems very vague and hard to quantify to begin with.
I can't believe I have to keep saying this. They did not arbitrarily define what was funny and see whether people laughed. They measured facial reactions to see if the individual found it funny but held back laughing. If they didn't find it funny, then they wouldn't have a reaction, and it wouldn't matter.
It's not *whether they found him funny*, bot *whether they laughed when they did find him funny*.
And early studies like this have to have a small sample size, then they show some results to justify more funding for a larger study. That's how research works.
Rev,
I'm starting to get annoyed that you have to keep repeating yourself, too. I really wish people would thoroughly read an article before jumping to the comments.
like THAT would ever happen on here....peeps either don't read the whole article or if they do they have no reading comprehension and then there are those who post the same comment because they don't bother to read the comments either and have no clue that someone already said the same dayum thing like 20 or so posts ago.....I laugh at those idiots.....LOL!!
People who laugh easily are addicted to the dopamine level that is released into their bodies when they laugh excessively.
Not everything is laughable and those who constantly laugh at everything have a severe chemical disorder in their brain and need treatment.
The last time that I checked most things on planet Earth are really not that funny at all.
I disagree. Life is hilarious.
Life can be ironic, and people are a lot dumber than we all think we truly are. That's funny. If you don't laugh about it, then the alternative is so depressing.
Ms. Holohan, your "(This is a departure; most humor research uses jokes from joke books, which, let’s face it, only people without senses of humor and your weird uncle find funny.)" still has me laughing:) Nice!
I'm still trying to figure out how the researchers determined a causal link clear enough to title the work "Self-deception inhibits laughter"
That sounds a lot like classical self-deception.
Why does it seem only college students are used for these studies?
That stony faced person was me at what seemed like a very funny comic routine, because I'm very deaf and couldn't understand anything. It's possible you had people in the audience with similar hearing loss. Assistive listening devices and open captioning opened up a world of entertainment to me. I highly recommend requesting it.
Why would you go to a comedy show if you can't hear what's going on in the first place?
I find hearing aids can be helpful. Just not in large, noisy crowds. As long as people can remain relatively silent until the punch lines, I can understand the comedian. It's when the chatter rises to the level of a din that problems with speech discrimination begin. I tried closed captioning on my television. It was riddled with gaps and inaccuracies. It prompted me to go out and get a better set of hearing aids. Problem solved.
Obviously anyone who doesn't laugh at my jokes is delusional.
I am better than you