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05th Mar 2013

You Are So Funny! – Research Finds Women Laugh More With Handsome Men

New research has revealed that being attractive makes you funnier.

Sue Murphy

Women have always claimed that the funnier a gentleman was the more attractive he became to us. Well, we were all lying it seems. A new study has found that the more attractive the opposite sex is, the more we will laugh at their jokes.

Psychologists at the University of Stirling have found that more attractive people were perceived as funnier when the people listening to them could see what they looked like, that is whether they were good-looking or not.

The study consisted of undergraduate psychology students who were asked what two items they would bring to a desert island and why, their answers were then recorded. The students replied with funny answers, even though they were not informed the study was about humour. Other participants were then asked to view the tapes and rate them on wit and how attractive they might be for relationships. The study found that those who were more attractive were rated as funnier.

Interestingly, the funnier participants were rated as better candidates for short term relationships. Those who were filmed were also considered more hilarious than those whose voices were just recorded.

Psychologists theorized that men in particular use comedy as a mating signal, as it shows off their intelligence and good genes to women. We apparently use comedy also to indicate sexual interest.

We’re not sure if we would need a study to tell us that we would laugh at Ryan Gosling’s jokes more than any other guys… 

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