Abstract
An experimental study was carried out to investigate the relationship between humor and intelligence by manipulating the stimulus variable. A list of 20 jokes with four options, where participants had to choose the one that best completed the joke setup, was administered to 43 participants associated with the Italian Mensa (with an IQ score ≥98thpercentile on intelligence tests) and 262 participants from the general population. In addition, participants were asked to judge the degree of funniness of the 20 jokes. The selected jokes either had neutral content or contained black humor inorder to test the hypothesis that intelligent people are more amused by black humor jokes. Findings revealedthat Mensa participants showed a greater understanding of the jokes, but overall they were less amused. Comprehension was found to be an importantbut not strictly necessary condition for experiencing amusement. Interestingly, the findings showed some participants’ personal and original ways of interpreting the stimuli. Overall, no connections were found between black humor and intelligence.
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