50 Hilarious Memes For Anyone Who Enjoys Their Humor With A Touch Of Darkness

The next time someone gives you the side-eye for laughing at an inappropriate joke, refer them to this study. It found that those who have a sense of humor that lives in the depths of hell actually have high levels of intelligence.

The researchers from the Medical University of Vienna also found that people who appreciated dark humor tend to be less aggressive than those who prefer their jokes vanilla and safe.

156 participants took part in the study. 76 were female, while 80 were male. The group had mixed levels of education. Each participant's verbal intelligence levels were measured using a vocabulary test. Their nonverbal IQ scores were also measured, and their aggressiveness and mood states were assessed using two questionnaires.

The participants were shown a set of 12 cartoons, taken from German artist Uli Stein’s The Black Book. The cartoons portray taboo topics that aren't often featured in conventional humor. The participants were then asked what they thought of the cartoons and whether they appreciated the jokes.

"The findings revealed that the participants fell into 3 distinct groupings," reports Psychologist World. "The first group was of average intelligence, with 'moderate' levels of aggression. They reported a moderate appreciation of black humor."

The second group showed high levels of aggression and were rated as average in terms of both intelligence and their ability to comprehend the dark humor. This group didn't appreciate the humor as much as the other two.

"The final group reported the highest appreciation of black humor," notes the site. "This group was found to have higher verbal and nonverbal intelligence levels, but had the lowest levels of aggression amongst the 3 groups."

"The most surprising result,” said the research team, “is that subjects who show the highest values with respect to black humour preference and comprehension show high values with respect to intelligence, have higher education levels and show lowest values regarding mood disturbance and aggression."