Why your sense of humour probably isn’t from your parents

A new study says your sense of humour is not genetic. (Credit: Pexels)

A new study is challenging the long-standing notion that a good sense of humour runs in the family.

Led by Dr. Gil Greengross of Aberystwyth University and published in Twin Research and Human Genetics, the study is the first to examine the heritability of something known as humour production ability (HPA), the skill of creating humour that makes others laugh.

“People are different in their sense of humour, so not everyone is funny,” Greengross said in a video interview with CTVNews.ca. “Some are funnier than others, so an interesting question is what’s the source of these differences.”

Humour has long been considered a trait that promotes social bonding, reduces stress and increases attractiveness. But this new research, based on more than 1,300 adult twins from the U.K., suggests that, at least when it comes to producing jokes or witty remarks, the funny bone might not be inherited.

To explore this, the researchers used the twin study method, comparing identical twins (who share 100 per cent of their genes) with non-identical twins (who share about 50 per cent).

“If identical twins are more similar to each other on a certain trait, then we can conclude that the trait has more genetic basis,” Greengross explained.

Participants were asked to write humorous captions for two cartoons, then independent judges rated how funny the responses were. The participants also reported their overall health, assessed their own humour ability and rated the funniness of their co-twin.

While intelligence, creativity and even humour appreciation have previously shown moderate to strong heritability, HPA did not. This suggests that growing up in different environments may have a much stronger impact on developing this skill than shared genes.

“To our surprise, we found very little to no genetic factor, and all the individual differences could be attributed to the two environmental factors: shared and non-shared environment,” Greengross said.

The researchers, however, did find that self-rated humour had a strong genetic component.

“We asked each twin to evaluate how funny they think they are, and also they rated the co-twin — and their rating corresponds,” said Greengross, adding that there was a very strong correlation on how identical twins think about their sense of humour, but with non-identical twins, it was random.

“So, if maybe your parents think they have a great sense of humour, you’re (also) more likely to think you have a great sense of humour,” he said.

We’re not as funny as we think

Researchers say people’s opinions of how funny they are does not line up with how funny others think they are. In one cited study, 93 per cent of men and 87 per cent of women rated themselves as having an average or above-average sense of humour, something Greengross describes as “a statistical impossibility” and “psychological bias.”

“We can’t rely on self-reporting,” Greengross said. “We can maybe ask your parents, your friends to say how fun you are, but that also has its own biases.”

He said the best way is to get people to produce humour and then evaluate it separately, which is what the study did.

The disconnect between real and perceived humour may be tied to personality traits. For example, extroverted people tend to rate themselves as funnier, while those who score high on conscientiousness tend to be less confident in their ability to make others laugh.

Humour can come from family dinners

Comedians who took the same cartoon caption task in earlier studies scored “several orders of magnitude higher than the general population,” researchers said. But this doesn’t necessarily mean their skills are genetic either.

Toronto-based comedian Sarah Ashby says her comedic instincts have been shaped by “a little bit of both” genes and environment.

“I lucked out,” Ashby said in a video interview with CTVNews.ca. “I grew up with a very funny family, that’s kind of where I got my roasting style from, which is great. (At the) dinner table, everyone’s roasting each other in front of the roast,” she said.

Moving to a new environment changed her approach.

“I came to Toronto and started doing comedy here. I could definitely feel my humour change a little bit more and adapting,” Ashby said, saying humour shifts across social settings.

“Even at home with my roommates, I have hilarious jokes that we have all together, and then with my family, we have other jokes too,” she said. “So, it’s really fun to be able to bounce between different styles.”

‘Humour is currency in the house’

For identical twin comedians Randy and Jason Sklar, the idea that humour is learned rather than inherited isn’t just a theory — it’s their lived experience.

“Comedy or humour is currency in the house,” Jason said in an interview with CTVNews.ca. “If you want approval from your funny parent, and you do something funny, and then you’re reinforced positively for that, you’re going to do it again.”

That environment is deeply woven into their family routines.

“We see that in our kids, and we encourage it in our kids,” Jason said. “I think that’s important. When our kids do something funny, we laugh at them, we give them credit, we get excited.”

Despite being identical twins who perform as a single comedic unit, the brothers draw on very different lives as parents.

“I’m about to be an empty nester,” Randy said. “Jay’s got an 11-year-old kid… I’m in a different juncture in my life than he is. And, you know, two teenage daughters is a different animal than what he is going through.”

Those different experiences feed their act — and they say they help explain how humour develops through lived experience.

“If we were around each other all the time and didn’t have families and didn’t have kids … I think that would be really suffocating and difficult,” Randy said. “But… it certainly allows us to work together.”

Their shared belief? A funny family culture makes a lasting impact.

“We both have instilled within our kids, the value of being funny amongst their friends and in whatever they do,” Randy said. “A sense of humour will be at the core of who they are.”

More research needed in finding funny

Researchers also looked at other possible influences. Most participants in the study were women over 60, meaning potential age- or sex-related effects could have been missed. Some studies have found that heritability for cognitive traits decreases after age 65, while other traits may show stronger non-genetic influences as people age.

Greengross also clarified that while twins were used to isolate genetic from environmental effects, the findings apply to the general population.

“Twins are used just because they have this unique genetic connection and they were the same age that allow us to do this comparison in a more controlled environment — as a result, (the findings) apply to the whole population.”

Despite using a well-established method and a large sample, the authors note that “humour ability is a multifaceted phenomenon” involving complex cognitive and personality traits that may not be easy to measure.

They stress that small genetic effects can’t be ruled out and that future studies, ideally with younger, more diverse samples, adding that different testing methods are needed to better understand whether humour ability has a heritable component at all.