How does our sense of humor change as we age? Statistical analysis
Original published 19 June 2024
Intro: Have I lost my sense of humor?
When I was eleven, my favorite movie was Scary Movie 3. For those who don't know, Scary Movie 3 is a comedy that parodies popular horror films from the 2000s like Signs and The Ring.
The film is the third installment in the popular Scary Movie series, the most notable franchise in the parody film subgenre. The subgenre also includes films such asMeet the Spartans“, “Unreal blockbuster” And “Very epic movie“, as well as a host of low-budget projects with cheap production values and pointless gags. Parody films flourished in the 2000s, and Scary Movie 3 grossed over $220 million despite a 35% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
When I was a teenager, first seeing this mind-bending spoof-fest, I didn't think twice about the film's cinematic prowess. I just loved Scary Movie 3. I watched it every month, hosted screenings for friends, and even made it the centerpiece of a birthday party.
A few months ago I decided to rewatch Scary Movie 3 and oh my god, it hasn't aged well. After just 30 minutes, I came to a sad conclusion: I didn’t find it funny at all. How could a film so important to my teenage self feel so foreign? Have I lost my sense of humor or has it just changed with age? Am I normal or is this a deviation?
Luckily, there’s a wealth of scientific research exploring the intersection of humor, aging, and culture. So today, we’ll look at how our sense of humor develops and changes as we age, as well as the physiological factors that determine our comedic sensitivity.
How does our sense of humor change over time?
We are born little pooping machines without a sense of humor. We can't speak in funny voices, act out comic scenes, or understand wordplay – we just eat, sleep, poop, cry, and poop again. However, amidst this chaos, a sense of humor gradually begins to emerge.
Early Humor Questionnaire [Early Humor Survey, EHS] is a standardized instrument designed to assess a child's humor ability in the first four years of life. EHS survey data collected from parents shows that our sense of humor begins to develop in infancy, usually around four months. During this period, infants respond to simple stimuli with laughter and begin to show the first signs of a sense of humor.
Even more striking is how the development of humor varies depending on the type of task: understanding and accepting nonsense, puns, and tricks occurs at different rates.
Once we leave adolescence, the frequency of humorous interactions begins to decline and we laugh less often.
Study Gallup 2013, which recorded the frequency of humorous interactions, revealed the existence of a “humor cliff” with age—each year we laugh a little less than the previous year. By age 80, humor has almost disappeared from our lives, but then we start laughing a little more often (what a relief).
Despite the fascinating visualization, the data can be misinterpreted. Popular wisdom holds that people lose their sense of humor as they age, as if the trait were subject to waxing and waning. In fact, however, a person’s humor sensitivity is determined by a variety of preferences that remain stable throughout our lives.
Numerous studies have examined how tastes in humor change with age and how we respond to different styles of humor at different stages of life. One such study, published in in the journal Current Psychologypresented respondents with a series of humorous statements and assessed their propensity for four different types of jokes:
Self-reinforcing humor: Finding humor in everyday situations, often with good-natured jokes directed at oneself.
Affiliative humor: using humor to strengthen social bonds and improve relationships by sharing jokes and funny stories that make people laugh while avoiding negativity.
Self-deprecating humor: making jokes at one's own expense in order to gain approval or avoid conflict, which sometimes undermines self-esteem.
Aggressive humor: jokes or remarks that ridicule, belittle, or humiliate others, often with the purpose of asserting dominance or expressing hostility.
Ultimately, the study found that as people age, they value self-enhancing humor more and less value affiliative, self-deprecating, and aggressive humor.
A similar study conducted among 4,200 German participants found that As people age, they increasingly prefer resolution of inconsistencies – an approach that includes unexpected or contradictory elements, resulting in a comic surprise. In joke format, this genre includes a hook that points to one outcome and a shock section that provides a surprise twist, such as: “I just arrived today, and my arms are so tired!”
This study shows that as people age, they increasingly value resolution of absurdities and less and less prefer absurd humor.
Perhaps this is where my newfound disgust with Scary Movie 3 lies, a film that is best described as “84 minutes of comedic nonsense“Probably, stupidity for the sake of stupidity is already less attractive to me, thirty years old…
Social norms also play an important role in our ever-changing relationship with humor. The generation gap in what is considered “appropriate” greatly influences our interpretations of comedy.
To gain a deeper understanding of the interaction between cultural norms and the perception of humor, researchers from the University of Akron and Northeastern University asked participants to watch a series of comedy films and television clips and then rate the scenes in terms of their appropriateness and comedy. As a result, all age groups found the so-called “appropriate” clips equally funny. while older people were less likely to enjoy clips deemed “inappropriate”.
Conceptually speaking, judging the appropriateness of humor is relative, especially in the context of changing social standards. Humor, unlike wine, does not age well, but often suffers from inconsistency with modern cultural norms, which makes it more difficult to perceive, especially in the Internet environment.
The sense of humor, both individual and across generations, is dynamic and ever-changing. As we age, we are more likely to prefer humor that is “appropriate,” self-contained, and involves resolving incongruities, to the exclusion of other humor styles. But what determines changes in our tastes in humor, what makes our taste in this key part of personality variable? Is the evolution of our comedy preferences a result of our nature or nurture?
Why does our sense of humor change?
Months ago I wrote about how and when our musical taste is formedAccording to Spotify data analysis, musical discovery peaks at age 24 and generally tapers off by age 30. The music that was part of our childhood often becomes our lifelong favorite.
While studying the process of developing a sense of humor, I became interested in whether these results were consistent. Research shows that our sense of humor does not follow a similar trajectory, peaking in early adulthood and declining as we age. Most studies indicate that the ability to appreciate and understand humor begins to decline later, around age 60. However, the ability to understand and process comedy may decline with age.
In one widely cited study, researchers from Ruhr University and University College London assessed humor comprehension in older adults using joke completion testing combined with executive function. Older participants chose fewer correct jokes compared to other age groupsand their choices were less successful in terms of generating laughter.
In a similar study, Polish researchers collected data on the humor perception, health, education, employment, and age of 109 older adults to determine the cognitive determinants of humor comprehension. The analysis showed that cognitive functions and secondary education play the most significant role in predicting humor comprehension in later life.
In response to these findings, scientists have attempted to uncover the biological basis that influences our comedic abilities. Numerous studies indicate that the psychological processes associated with the perception of humor are localized in the right frontal lobe of the brain. One study showedthat people with damage to this area of the brain have decreased physical and emotional responses to comedy (laughter, smiling, etc.) and also have difficulty finishing jokes.
In the case of “normal” aging, where there is no traumatic brain injury, gradual changes in the right frontal lobe likely contribute to the decline in comedic abilities, which may lead to difficulties in perceiving and enjoying humor.
These findings may seem depressing: Old age deprives us of many of life’s pleasures, including laughter. It seems as if we are constantly sliding down a humorous cliff, driven by physiological changes we can’t control. However, there is good news. Several studies have shown that with special training, older adults can improve and maintain their sense of humor. Most people won’t take a course in humor development, and that’s okay because they probably don’t need it. Chances are that regular socializing and interaction can lead to similar results. We are not doomed to a humorless fate just because the right frontal lobe doesn’t work like it used to.
Epilogue: We all want to laugh
When I was 14, my favorite movie was “Super Peppers“I loved this movie so much that I watched it three times while it was in theaters. Because of the stupid rules MPAA I couldn't watch R-rated movies without an adult, so I begged my dad to accompany me to a second screening.
As I sat next to my father, preparing for another fit of laughter, I had a terrible realization: I would be sitting next to my father during the infamous penis drawing sequence. For those who don't know, “Super Peppers” there is a 3 minute scene that talks about one of the characters' obsession with drawing penises. As a teenager, I had to watch these phalluses flashing across the screen while sitting next to the main authority figure in my life. It was at this point that I had a minor panic attack…
Do we admit that we watched this together? Will he be outraged by such crude humor? Will he judge me for my love for this film? I miscalculated terribly.
When the scene finally arrived, the entire room erupted in laughter, and my dad laughed the loudest. I was shocked: how is this possible? It has always been believed that there is adult and children's humor, and they never intersect. It was strange to see my dad laugh so hard while watching the movie.
After a few seconds of confusion, I decided not to think about anything unnecessary and just laugh with him – father and son laughing at a stylish montage of phalluses. Looking back, I realize that I underestimated my father's ability to find humor and his desire to laugh. For some reason, I always thought that adults did not have the same strong desire for laughter as children. I assumed that as we grew older, our need for humor was replaced by reading The New York Times, discussing politics, eating meat, watching Wirecutter reviews, complaining about gas prices, and watching The Sopranos. However, I was wrong. All people, even adults, want to laugh.
One day a few months ago, I walked into a beach knick-knack store and came across a pillow that said, “Laugh every day like it’s your last.” This made me laugh a little and I thought, “What a stupid pillow.” I didn't think it was necessary to learn life lessons from a pillow – it seemed that I was above such things. After all, pillows are meant to support your back and provide comfortable sitting, not to dispense wisdom.
But later, while studying research on the development of a sense of humor and the biological basis for its decline, I began to think that maybe there was a meaning to that pillow. Every year we laugh less and less, but our desire still remains. Our brains change, cultural norms change, social circumstances change, but at the end of the day we are still the same people – we still want to laugh (although it may be at penis memes).
We are born with humor, but we are not destined to remain so throughout our lives. Maybe it would be worth putting this thought on the pillow?
