Sense of humour changes with age

While young and middle-aged adults considered aggressive humour to be funny, older adults did not, the findings showed.

"Television sitcoms in which characters make jokes at someone else's expense are no laughing matter for older adults," said co-researcher Tehan Stanley, an assistant professor of psychology at University of Akron in the US.

The older adults preferred "affiliative humour" in which a number of characters share and navigate an awkward situation.

The researchers studied how young, middle-aged and older adults reacted to "aggressive humour".

The findings appeared in the journal Psychology and Aging.