**TL;DR: Our bodies are programmed to laugh** - Babies have a sense of humour. Most babies can laugh when they are 3 or 4 months old, and a [study](https://www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people/baby-sense-of-humour/zjtsvk7) by the University of Portsmouth has found that babies start using their facial expressions, voices, and body language to make adults laugh on purpose when they are as young as 7 or 8 months old. This suggests that either we are born with some kind of a sense of humour, or develop it exceedingly quickly at a very young age. - Dr William Reville compares laughter to sneezing, as [“an involuntary physiological response to a cognitive stimulus”](https://www.irishtimes.com/news/what-is-the-biological-reason-for-humour-1.237275). Our bodies are programmed to laugh: when we find something funny, our diaphragm contracts and our brain releases dopamine making us feel pleasure. Our sense of humour is not something that we can choose or be in control of, but is an innate biological reaction that helps us to communicate and form relationships with each other.

**TL;DR- Similar to nature vs nurture, an individual's sense of humor is a developmental characteristic and is therefore subject to change.** What is a [sense of humor](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/humor)? By definition, it is the individualistic perception of what a person finds funny. Humor can be a source of entertainment, a coping method, a bonding element, and overall, an instrumental aspect of life. However, are these established methods shaped by outside influences, or is it a symptom of one's inherent genealogical funny bone? While I shared a nearly identical sense of humor to that of my father, the same could be said of my best friend and I, yet she didn’t inherit it from me or vice versa. This alludes to the fact that an individual’s sense of humor is more so due to a mixture of [external contributing factors](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4991054/) and not a specific sequence of DNA. It should be pointed out that 'being funny' doesn't equate to having a sense of humor, or even what a sense of humor entails, as nearly everyone on this planet [finds humor in something](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00123/full), yet the number of people that are actually funny themselves is considerably low. Scientific research has identified [four different types of humor](https://www.humorthatworks.com/how-to/the-four-styles-of-humor/), which are affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive, and self-defeating. Each of these four categories are heavily influenced by the variables of an [individual's personality](https://www.bodyandsoul.com.au/mind-body/wellbeing/your-sense-of-humour-reveals-a-lot/news-story/492614c9adf06379fdf2be2f2285408d?nk=4d9a9bee48669e68f558fb267bd7f112-1626644261). So, do you inherit what you ultimately find funny, or is it something developed? I find the latter, at least personally, to be true.

**Having a _good_ sense of humor in terms of ability to _be_ funny seems to be mostly innate.** - Of course what counts as a "good" sense of humor varies enormously. But in general, we do often seem to have at least some consensus on who's skilled at being funny. - Humor skills such as timing and delivery are skills that, while capable of being practiced, appear to be innate. Effortlessly making people laugh is not something that is easily learned. - Although it's certainly _possible_ for people to to learn how to be effortlessly funny, in practice, it doesn't seem to happen much. This, though, could always have something to do with people who aren't predisposed to being effortlessly funny not tending to derive as much pleasure from the process of being or learning to be funny as their more humor-enjoying counterparts. - There is limited research on locating genes associated with humor. The 5-HTTLPR gene appears to be [associated](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26029940/) with controlling emotional responses to stimuli.

**A 'good sense of humour' is linked to personality traits. These traits can evolve and fluctuate through someone's lifetime, making sense of humour something that can be developed.** - First, I'll define 'sense of humour' as someone's ability to perceive humour or appreciate a joke. And thinking of it as 'innate' means that it is there at birth, and easily feeds into the idea that it is something you either have or you don't. - Having a sense of humour can be linked to certain personality traits - like [flexibility] (https://www.nbcnews.com/better/careers/how-be-funny-n755586), [intelligence] (https://www.vice.com/en/article/pgw4xz/the-science-of-being-funny), capacity for imagination, openness, etc. These tie into the classic ['Big 5'] (https://www.verywellmind.com/the-big-five-personality-dimensions-2795422) model. - [Recent studies] (https://www.apa.org/monitor/julaug03/personality) have indicated that these traits - which include openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness - are, to a certain extent, malleable and shift over a lifetime. There are even suggestions that these traits can be [consciously shifted] (https://www.headspace.com/articles/stuck-personality). Therefore - a sense of humour is something you can develop.