Discussion » Questions » Human Behavior » If I Cultivate a Sense of Humour, Will I Get Smarter?
Benedict Arnold

If I Cultivate a Sense of Humour, Will I Get Smarter?

In 1972, scientists tested eighty elementary-level students and found a very high correlation between humour and intelligence (r = .91).
So I would like to know, if I can improve my sense of humour, will my IQ go up too?

http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/intelligence-humour-are-smart-people-funnier/

Posted - March 11, 2017
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Responses


  • Hmm tough but excellent question... I would think that humour is partly inherent and inherited... I personally think it is also nurtured from an early age.. for instance with my kids, I played games with words, messed around with them, double meanings, inference, rhyming... I could be wrong but  Ibelieve that may cultivate a natural humour? or may create it? 

    I would think it would be hard to cultivate once we get beyond childhood and teenage.. we might learn to tell jokes but I dont think that's the same...

    So I guess I don't really know.. feel free to be our guinea pig.. try it and see..  it would be an interesting experiment
      March 11, 2017 12:32 PM MST
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  • Thank you, DDBTD, a thoughtful response!
      March 11, 2017 1:13 PM MST
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  • 5614
    You might get wiser and wisdom perhaps is a component of intelligence.
      March 11, 2017 12:36 PM MST
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  • Wisdom resulting from cultivation of humour...that is a fascinating possibility!
    Thank you, O-uknow...
      March 11, 2017 1:16 PM MST
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  • 7280
    I'd say it's likely, Virginia.

    Humor involves going beyond the "first level of inference" in order to find other interpretations and significance is situations.

    And such insight and understanding are part of the components of wisdom.  

    You might enjoy this:

    It can be difficult to define wisdom, but people generally recognize it when they encounter it. Psychologists tend to agree that it involves an integration of knowledge, experience, and deep understanding that incorporates tolerance for the uncertainties of life as well as its ups and downs. There's an awareness of how things play out over time, and it confers a sense of balance.

    Wise people generally share an optimism that life's problems can be solved and experience a certain amount of calm in facing difficult decisions. Intelligence—if only anyone could figure out exactly what it is—may be necessary for wisdom, but it definitely isn't sufficient; an ability to see the big picture, a sense of proportion, and considerable introspection also contribute to its development.

    https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/wisdom 
      March 11, 2017 1:27 PM MST
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  • Tom, and O-uknow, this is an aspect of 'sense of humour' we do not usually consider, I am guessing...perhaps what you are suggesting may also correlate with Glis' brain plasticity, I wonder?
      March 11, 2017 1:37 PM MST
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  • 7280
    Yep:  Neuroplasticity, or brain plasticity, refers to the brain's ability to CHANGE throughout life. The human brain has the amazing ability to reorganize itself by forming new connections between brain cells (neurons).
      March 11, 2017 1:41 PM MST
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  • TJ, something I recall...many years ago when I worked telephones on a local crisis line; I learned that the most successful anger management classes trained people to use humour to redirect their rage!
    ...perhaps a form of the reorganizing you mention...
      March 11, 2017 2:05 PM MST
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  • Great definition of wisdom, Tom. 
      March 11, 2017 3:08 PM MST
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  • 7280
    Yes, I think it's pretty good too.
      March 11, 2017 3:27 PM MST
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  • 5614
    Much wisdom in good humor. George Carlin, Dennis Miller and Chris Rock are comedians that to me are spot on wise.
      March 12, 2017 9:45 PM MDT
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  • 6124
    I don't know but I bet you will be the belle of the ball.
      March 11, 2017 12:40 PM MST
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  • Harry, that is interesting...from the Googling I did, apparently people with a good sense of humour were perceived as more attractive to the opposite sex!
    Thank you...
      March 11, 2017 1:18 PM MST
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  • 7939
    I don't think you can cultivate humor. I wonder if perhaps your thinking is backwards... Those who are intelligent are quicker with humor.
      March 11, 2017 12:41 PM MST
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  • I've come to realize that the term "Cultivating humour" is a misnomer and that the it's only a matter of perspective.
    When we talk about people cultivating a sense of humor, we may be actually asking them to adapt to our way of thinking  and to conform to what we believe is funny. 

      March 11, 2017 1:04 PM MST
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  • (sigh)...it may be, JA...
    Thank you!
      March 11, 2017 1:20 PM MST
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  • I think there is a fluid exchange going both ways.  They help cultivate each other very often.

    Humor in all it's forms is based on abstract thinking, humility,  and being able to make connections between things that aren't readily and easily seen.  So brain plasticity will often lead to a better sense of humor and a  working to better understand and be open to the what absurdity makes something humorous will help develop better brain plasticity.
    We all laugh at things for the most part.   Some will laugh and terrible things happening to others and being mean.   That's not humor. That's primitive thinking where laughs come from the sense of gratification of superiority.   The brighter mind tends to be able abstractly and through humility put themselves in the situation and does not find that funny.  With exceptions when it is perceived to be a self earned consequence.   The stronger mind tends to laugh at the absurdity of  hidden connections.  The more you are able to laugh at these things and understand why,  the more adept you become at seeing abstract connections and concepts.   It's like mathematics or linguistics in that sense.
      March 11, 2017 12:58 PM MST
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  • Sometimes I forget I have intelligent friends
      March 11, 2017 1:07 PM MST
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  • Glis, this is a remarkable answer, very helpful. My own hope is that it might indeed be possible to improve our sense of humour...you mention some basic attributes involved...and hopefully it might be possible to improve the flexibility, plasticity of our thinking brain.
    In which case, perhaps both intelligence and humour might improve, and so they are indirectly related too!

    And reading your answer over, I am now thinking about the role of fear, too...fear being known to make learning difficult, for example.

    * * *
    Also, I remember some relief at learning the term "schadenfreude," some years ago...giving a name, now I could identify, discern the mean laughing that is not humor. This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at March 11, 2017 3:10 PM MST
      March 11, 2017 1:51 PM MST
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  • You're welcome Virginia.


    There is always going to be some level mean spiritedness to comedy.    At it's basic level it's always playing on ignorance and based on a deception.
    We have these visceral reactions and drives and they are all related.   Violence, humor,  sexuality, etc.   It's whether or not we develop   healthy or unhealthy ways of expressing and using them.  We can use them productively or unproductively.
      March 11, 2017 2:02 PM MST
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  • Not sure... I think you have to have the intelligence to understand the humour... They find a similar correlation with autistic kids a and understanding certain types of humour... The subtle kind
      March 11, 2017 1:05 PM MST
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  • That opens intriguing possibilities too, Ozgirl...that our neurodiversities might predispose us to specific kinds of humour.
    Thank you!
      March 11, 2017 1:29 PM MST
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  • To put it plainly ... I think we've all know that one person who was as thick as a brick and never got the punch line ... And when you think about humour it often involves a leap from where you think the story had lead you to a totally different place ... So mental dexterity and leaps of the imagination are required to understand most humour ... Unless it's a custard pie in the face :)
      March 11, 2017 1:33 PM MST
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  • Yes...that surprise leap at the end...
      March 11, 2017 2:01 PM MST
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