According to new academic research

Men and women have notably different senses of humour, new academic research has found.

Blokes are more likely to prefer visual and slapstick jokes than women; whereas females have a greater affinity for gags about personal relationships and political satire than males.

The findings comes from a study of 3,380 people who attended an exhibition at London’s Cartoon Museum.Volunteers were presented with 19 pairs of cartoons, published in the UK press between 1930 and 2010 and asked to pick their favourite.

The research was conducted by Professor Robin Dunbar, a psychologist at Oxford university, and Cartoon Museum curator Emma Stirling-Middleton.

Findings, published in the journal Humour, they conclude: ‘Of all the results, it is perhaps the gender differences that are the most surprising: we did not anticipate that these would be as large as they are. 

‘They seem to reflect differences in the way the two genders engage with the social world (the one [women] more reflectively, the other in a more superficial humor-based way).

‘This contrast may reflect differences in the way the two genders manage their relationships. Women’s relationships are generally more complex than men’s… [their] friendships are created and maintained principally through conversation,  whereas men’s are more activity-based, where conversation is used more to trigger laughter than discuss emotional issues.’ 

Across both genders, visual jokes were the favourite, followed by social commentary and gags about marital relationships, with political jokes the least favourite. 

The research was conducted by Professor Robin Dunbar, a psychologist at Oxford university, and Cartoon Museum curator Emma Stirling-Middleton.

They found that more complex jokes - involving greater levels of reading each character’s intentions in the single-frame cartoons – were considered funnier than simpler ones. 

However, participant age didn't significantly affect how the gags were appreciated.

Published: 15 Jan 2024