We can almost all agree that when searching for a partner—especially when the girlies are looking for a man—his sense of humour is one of the important boxes to tick. A man must make you laugh, right?
But what is it about humour that makes a person attractive, you ask, well, according to the Utrecht University publication, jokes and laughter activate the prefrontal cortex, “This part of your brain helps you to connect pieces of information, such as the punchline of a joke. When you understand the joke, another part of your brain becomes active. This is the ‘reward area’, which is the same area that becomes active when you enjoy things like sex, chocolate, and drugs.”
The above university mentions that research shows heterosexual women are attracted to men with humour, and men seek women who laugh about jokes.
Psychology Today claims that humour is traditionally believed to be a useful sexually attractive characteristic, compensating for deficits in other areas like physical attractiveness.
However, a recent study at the University of Queensland contradicts this belief, finding that making jokes doesn’t help attract a partner.
“The authors analysed results from 3-minute speed-dates with hundreds of heterosexual participants and found that eliciting laughs didn’t help attract a partner after all.”
A study shared by the Earth.com publication found that attempting humour in speed dating sessions can indicate friendliness, but genuinely funny attempts can lead to stronger attraction.
This is considered to be true particularly for men in long-term relationships, especially if the man is attractive.
The study claims that successful humour conveys competence, intelligence, and the potential for higher earning capacity. “Given the competence that successful humour use conveys, subsequent studies showed that this preference for actually funny men over unfunny men was most apparent in long-term mating contexts and when the funny man was most attractive.”
Also see: Tips to teach someone to love you
