In 2017, psychologist Ulrike Willinger conducted a study at the Medical University of Vienna on “gallows humor.” Through the experiment, Willinger’s researchers found that people who enjoyed jokes about morbid or dark topics had higher levels of verbal and nonverbal intelligence. Additionally, participants who appreciated such jokes tended not to be as aggressive as those with more conventional senses of humor. These findings lined up with one of Sigmund Freud’s theories on the subject, as proposed in his 1905 book Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious.

All in all, 156 adults took part in Willinger’s study: 76 women and 80 men with different educational backgrounds. Their verbal intelligence was measured using a vocabulary test. Researchers also analyzed nonverbal IQ tests for the study. In addition, questionnaires were used to accurately assess the aggressiveness and mood states of all participants.

From there, test subjects were shown 12 drawings from German cartoonist Uli Stein’s The Black Book. The cartoons in question dealt with themes of death, suicide, disease, physical handicap, and medical treatment. Participants were then asked to rate the jokes based on how difficult they were to understand, how vulgar they found them, and how much they liked them, among other things. In the end, the people who participated in the study fell into three distinct groups.

The Surprising Link Between Dark Humor and Intelligence

The first group, which expressed a moderate appreciation for dark humor, was found to be of average intelligence and showed moderate levels of aggression. Group number two appreciated the jokes the least of the three and had average intelligence and high aggression. Finally, the third group, with the highest reported appreciation for the morbid gags presented to them, had higher intelligence and lower aggression than the other two groups.

So, in other words, people who don’t appreciate a good dark joke might literally just not get it.