Why your parents probably like Mr Bean and you find The Office funny: Older generation doesn't like 'aggressive humour', study finds
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TV sitcoms like 'The Office' in which characters make jokes at someone else's expense are no laughing matter for older adults, according to new research.
A new study has found that while young and middle-aged people think that 'aggressive humour' is funny, senior citizens aren't amused.
Instead, the older generation prefer 'affiliative humour,' in which a number of characters share and deal with an awkward situation.
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A new study has found that while young and middle-aged people think that 'aggressive humour' is funny, senior citizens aren't amused
The study was undertaken by University of Akron researchers who showed young, middle-aged and older adults different clips from The Office, Golden Girls, Mr Bean and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
The Ohio-based team, led by Jennifer Tehan Stanley, studied the reaction of participants as they watched 14 video clips.
They noted how often each volunteer smiled and laughed. They also had electrodes attached to their faces to detect muscle movements made by smiling.
The study involved 30 participants 17-21 years old, 22 who were 35-56 years old and 29 who were 64-84 years old.
The 64-to-84-year-olds found clips from The Office around 23 per cent less funny than the middle-aged people did, and about 19 per cent less funny than the 17-to-21-year-olds did.
Young adults were also more likely to laugh at the self-deprecating humor, found in clips of episodes such as Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Professor Stanley said she finds both types of humour funny, but that the study has made her rethink the jokes she makes in her lectures.
'The study raises some intriguing questions about our concept of what is funny,' she said.
'Is that concept based on factors peculiar to generations, or does it evolve over time as we age and, perhaps, mellow?
'Those possibilities will need to be explored in a future episode of humour research.'
The over 20s are most likely to laugh at this clip from Golden Girls
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