Meme for no reason: what does a sense of humor depend on?
From the point of view of neuroscience and psychology, there is a connection between a sense of humor and intelligence. Joking requires excellent memory, cognitive flexibility, and a rich vocabulary. Whether AI is able to compete with natural intelligence by generating jokes, whether a sense of humor is inherited and which areas of the brain are responsible for mental acuity — in the Izvestia material.
Which areas of the brain are responsible for the sense of humor
A sense of humor is closely intertwined with mental flexibility — the ability to evaluate the world not literally, but from different angles, says psychologist Anna Guseva, senior lecturer at the Department of Psychology at Synergy University. This connection is irrefutable, because in order to understand or generate a funny statement, the brain must detect in a split second the discrepancy or contradiction on which the joke is based. Cognitive abilities such as memory, mental flexibility, vocabulary, social intelligence, and the ability to sense an audience are necessary. Jokes are created and understood by people with high IQ. And professional comedians have an enlarged cortex in the areas responsible for abstract and divergent thinking, that is, for the ability to generate non-standard ideas, explains the editorial interlocutor.
— Lack of a sense of humor is often a sure sign of low intelligence. By this we mean an erroneous perception of the world around us, and sometimes an inability to realize the actions of other people. People without a sense of humor see the world in black and white. Because of this, various paradoxes and subtle nuances of life pass by: a person can make mistakes in assessments, accept many things superficially," says the specialist.
Nevertheless, humor is not a talent of the chosen ones, but a skill that can be trained like a muscle, even if a person is not capable of sparkling jokes at some stage, the psychologist believes. You can develop this quality through watching, reading, and communicating with other people. It's also important not to be shy about making jokes in public, groping for your niche. Humor is the effective operation of existing brain networks responsible for language, memory, attention, and emotional regulation.
— First of all, you need to "catch" the joke — the left inferior frontal gyrus and the posterior temporal gyrus are responsible for this. These centers help not only to hear sounds, but also to understand their meaning, remember and emotionally react to them. Next, the pleasure center turns on — the insular cortex and the amygdala of the brain. Then the emotional component is triggered — the right frontal cortex, the medial ventral prefrontal cortex (it critically evaluates a joke, screening out "flat" humor), as well as the parietal areas. And mirror neurons help to capture the emotional subtext of a joke," explains Anna Guseva.
The brains of people with a developed sense of humor build faster and more flexible connections between concepts and words, connecting them not only with each other, but also in different configurations, the psychologist emphasizes. A person is able to quickly detect funny inconsistencies, notice the absurdity of statements, and play with meanings more easily.
When it comes to a sense of humor, the complex interaction of brain areas surpasses artificial intelligence. According to the psychologist, artificial intelligence does not generate jokes, but a context similar to a joke. He still has no real humor.
— Comedy is about reaction and surprise. So why do people laugh at AI-generated memes? It's simple: we put our own meaning into them. Most often, a person reacts not to a joke, but to the absurdity generated by the joke," the expert explains.
In this case, a lot depends on the sense of humor of the person who watches funny videos. Someone takes the generated stupidity literally, and this does not contribute to the development of intelligence.
Is irony inherited
Wit, the ability to make quick and appropriate jokes are directly related to high levels of verbal intelligence, abstract thinking and working memory, explains Ekaterina Surkova, head of scientific communications at Genotek, Candidate of Biological Sciences, to Izvestia. According to her, humor is a "demonstration of the power" of a healthy and flexible mind. The sequences of our genome do indeed lay down a certain potential for giftedness (the so-called biological reaction rate), but how this potential unfolds depends on the environment. This "spark" may go out.
— In the science that studies the connection of genes with human behavior, there is the concept of heritability, that is, the contribution of genes to a particular feature of behavior. For intelligence, it ranges from 50 to 80% in adulthood. This means that the remaining 20-50% fall on Wednesday," the specialist notes.
If a genetically gifted child grows up in conditions of social isolation, lack of intellectual stimuli, severe chronic stress, eats poorly or sleeps little, then his brain is physically unable to form the necessary number of neural connections. The potential will remain unfulfilled.
— And vice versa: if a person stops developing in adulthood and sinks into a rigid routine, the flexibility of our thinking (and, as a result, wit) it decreases due to neuroplasticity (the brain's ability to change) — the brain optimizes resources and "turns off" what is not being used, the geneticist warns.
In a moderately favorable environment, high potential is likely to make its way through, and a person will stand out for their intelligence or original way of looking at things. But without conscious effort and training, it will not reach its peak, Ekaterina Surkova believes.
The ability to generate humor is inherited to the same extent as intelligence, she emphasizes. To notice a discrepancy in an absurd situation or to construct a complex metaphor, you need a developed brain. This part is highly dependent on genes.
— But the environment, rather than genetics, is more responsible for what exactly seems funny to us. Twin studies (comparing identical and fraternal twins who grew up together and apart) have shown that common family traditions, cultural context, upbringing, and social circle shape our tastes in humor," the geneticist cites an example.
Whether a person will appreciate black humor, sarcasm, puns, or simple physical humor (gag) depends on learning, copying the behavior of parents in childhood, and the influence of society.
— There is a popular myth claiming that intelligence is transmitted exclusively from the mother, since many genes related to brain development are located on the X chromosome (women have two XX, men have one XY). From the point of view of modern science, this statement is incorrect. Intelligence is a polygenic trait: thousands of genetic variants are responsible for its formation, distributed absolutely on all chromosomes (both on sexual X and Y, and on autosomes — the remaining 22 pairs of chromosomes). None of the lines has a monopoly on intelligence, — says the interlocutor of Izvestia.
The specialist emphasizes that the contribution of both parents in this case is equal: each person receives exactly 50% of the genetic material from the mother and 50% from the father.
— There are indeed many genes located on the X chromosome related to mental functions (and their changes often lead to mental disorders). Due to the fact that boys have only one X chromosome (from their mother), any maternal genetic features on this chromosome may appear more clearly in their son (he does not have a second X chromosome to "insure" or balance it). Girls have a combination of paternal and maternal X chromosomes. But this does not mean that all intelligence is transmitted only from the mother, says Ekaterina Surkova.
Since humor style is a socially acquired skill, a child most often learns it from a parent with whom he spends more time in childhood, or from someone whose authority in the family is higher, she draws attention. The line of inheritance here is purely psychological, not biological.
Who's joking better — boomers or zoomers
If we talk about which generation makes funnier jokes — parents, children or grandchildren — then there is no winner, says Anna Guseva. People of different ages have their own eras with their own characteristics, cultural codes and technical capabilities.
— Previously, the joke was long—lasting - the same boomers grew up on books, and the very process of retelling or reading a funny story or story fascinated and delayed them. There were also long jokes with wordplay, and it was interesting to retell them, enhancing the funny intonation. But the world is speeding up, and humor has accelerated," says the psychologist.
When television appeared, jokes became more compact. Representatives of generation X not only read funny classical works, but also watched short stories (humorous) performed by authors or professional actors.
At the turn of the ages and at the turn of the millennia, the so-called toilet (vulgar) humor made itself felt. People began to publicly laugh at what was previously considered indecent. On the one hand, the adults of that time resembled children of 4-6 years old who were trying to joke about topics that violated prohibitions. On the other hand, people in the 90s faced difficult processes in society and the world, and "simple" humor allowed them not to think about serious things. Thus, the millennial generation has absorbed both classic, intellectual humor, and "peppered" jokes, and vulgar jokes.
— Zoomers, in turn, grew up on stand-up based on instant reactions. This humor is fast, short, and "dark." Zoomer most often searches for taboo topics and gets a light dopamine from those 15 seconds," continues Anna Guseva.
Representatives of the alpha generation differ in that they do not perceive classic jokes, and they do not see the point in retelling old jokes to each other. They joke "in the moment," using abstract speech constructions that are understandable only to their own people.
— The humor of modern teenagers is visual, absurd, and in some cases collective ("they'll understand their own"). That is, this generation has formed its own community, even in humor," the psychologist points out.
The volatility and flexibility of modern youth humor is confirmed by a study prepared by the Pressindex analytical agency specifically for Izvestia.
"In the last six months, the most noticeable ones have been not so much classic "ready-made jokes" as short speech constructions that users can quickly embed into a specific situation. The leader of the rating is "Airman" with 413 thousand mentions. The meme actually turned into a new colloquial word and gave rise to derivatives like "airing" and "airing". In second place is "Six Seven" with 310 thousand mentions, an example of an absurd phrase, the meaning of which is largely based on recognition within Internet culture. Completing the top three is "Can I, but why?" — 158 thousand mentions: This is a ready—made reaction template that can be easily transferred from the original plot to a variety of everyday situations," the study says.
The top 5 also includes "Burmalda" and "Mognut". In total, these designs, according to analysts, account for about 76% of all mentions in the studied segment.
— These leaders illustrate one general trend well: modern Internet humor often works not as a complete joke, but as a language constructor. The user takes a recognizable word, short phrase, or absurd template and adapts it to the current post, comment, or situation. "Could", "Cat", "You're kidding" and "Burmald" generally began to function almost as new elements of Internet slang, whereas "You can, but why?", "Musya, is that you?" or "That's such a bullshit, doggie" work as ready-made reactionary remarks, — Vladislav Obushinsky, the agency's public representative, explained to Izvestia.
What kind of humor is humiliating
People use jokes in different ways: someone makes others laugh, while someone self-asserts himself by humiliating others. Humor can be healthy (healing) and toxic (aggressive), emphasizes Anna Guseva.
— Healthy humor acts as a way to defuse the situation, have fun together, and cope with difficulties and pain. Jokes bring you closer when people laugh together, but not at someone. The main rule of healthy humor is how other people feel around you, and you too. The ability to laugh at yourself, but without self—deprecation, but with irony is a sign of strength, not weakness," the psychologist reminds.
If a person feels humiliated by sarcastic ridicule, then this is toxic, abusive humor, she is convinced. Such "jokes" are akin to gaslighting — the "humorist" also blames the victim.: "You're too sensitive, stop being a victim. What did I say?" Often, a deeply offended person tries to respond just as painfully, and this is also disguised as "I'm joking."
Anna Guseva calls for distinguishing between so—called neutral humor, when joking without aggression and seemingly according to the situation, but ridicule does its job - it offends a person. For example: "It's immediately obvious that you're back from vacation — you don't look well."
The specialist advises to clearly build personal boundaries and respect others'. One should not joke about appearance, personal qualities, as well as racial, national, religious and political topics. Practical jokes that humiliate human dignity and give false hopes should also be excluded. The psychologist emphasizes that such humor is typical for teenagers — this is how minors go through the process of developing stress tolerance. But adults should behave differently.
If you come across an unpleasant joke that causes pain and resentment, the psychologist recommends saying calmly, without aggression: "I'm offended and not funny." If you have the strength and the resource, you can fend it off, but not humiliate it in return.
— In any case, do not make excuses for not liking the joke.: We don't have to be comfortable for anyone at all. Don't take the words "you're too sensitive" as an insult — it's manipulation. Sensitivity is actually not a weakness, but an ability to feel. And it is not given to everyone, especially in our time," sums up Anna Guseva.
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