Literature review : is humour innate or learned?

Abstract

Humour plays an important part in our everyday life. Researchers have long debated on whether humour is a characteristic that can be learned or it is genetically determined. Humour, being a highly complex multi-dimensional concept, makes it hard to establish certainty with either side of the argument. Our literature review provides an overview of the literature done under two broad categories: Nature and Nurture. Under the nature view of humour, we will be covering literature done on evolutionary theories of humour, the use of Behaviour Genetic (BG) studies, the instinctive nature of humour and the development of humour in children. Under the nurture view of humour, we will be covering literature done on the effect of cross cultural perception on humour, the influence of social settings and the use of humour therapy to cultivate humour in people. Our literature review will discuss the methodological issues done by existing research, implications and future directions. We concluded that humour production and ability to be amused may be intrinsic but individuals’ opinions on what is considered funny may be largely due to social and environmental influences.