Scientists find you can't laugh a partner into bed

Being funny or having a good sense of humour doesn’t necessarily make you a hit with a potential partner, scientists have found.

Analysis of hundreds of speed dates has blown apart the idea that straight men can laugh a woman into bed – with no apparent correlation between how much  a couple laughed during their encounter and how attractive they found each other.

Psychologist Henry Wainwright from the University of Queensland in Australia, who led the research, said: ‘We found that irrespective of sex, participants who laughed more at their partner or received more laughs did not rate their partner as any more or less attractive.

‘It’s interesting that this result opposes the commonly-held belief that women are more attracted to funny men and that men are more attracted to women who find them funny.’

Mr Wainwright said the findings were inconsistent with the so-called ‘fitness indicator theory’, which argues being funny requires quick thinking, intelligence, and creativity and is therefore seen as an advantage when selecting mates.

‘In the past it was thought that being attracted to funny individuals was useful because your children were more likely to inherit beneficial characteristics, like intelligence,’ he said.

‘If true, this process would lead to an evolutionary advantage both for being funny and being attracted to funny people, a potential explanation as to why humour is found in virtually all human cultures.

‘However, our results suggest that trying too hard to be funny on a date might be more counterproductive than helpful – you should just be yourself.’

His researchers quizzed 554 heterosexual subjects  who participated in 861 three-minute  speed dates.

They were asked bout themselves and whether they looked for a good sense of humour in an ideal partner. And after each date they then rated their partner on characteristics including their humour and how attractive they found them. 

The study has been published in the scientific journal Evolution and Human Behaviour.

Published: 25 Oct 2023