“The Effects of Relationship Context and Modality on Ratings of Funniness”, 2013-03 (; similar):
The difference in funniness ratings for audio-clips, videos and photos was tested.
Funniness is more attractive when displayed by males than females.
Funniness is subject to an attractiveness halo-effect in videos and photos.
Funniness is more attractive for short-term relationships for both sexes.
The similarity between perceived flirtatiousness and funniness may explain this.
There is evidence to suggest that humour is an important part of mate choice and that humour may serve as an indicator of genetic quality.
The current study investigated how rated funniness from a video clip was related to an individual’s attractiveness as a short-term or long-term partner. We additionally tested for the presence of an attractiveness halo effect on humour ratings by comparing ratings of funniness from video clips, audio-only presentations, and photographs.
We found that funniness was most strongly correlated with attractiveness for short-term relationships, especially in videos of males.
We also found that attractiveness was related to funniness ratings differently across video, audio-only clips, and photographs. Relative to their rated funniness in the audio-only condition, with no appearance cues, attractive individuals were rated as funnier in video clips than less attractive individuals. An additional study demonstrated that ratings of flirtatiousness and funniness were strongly correlated.
[The effect is not very strong and the p-values are weak, so… maybe.]
Perceived similarity between producing humour and flirting may explain why humour is more preferable in a short-term partner as flirting may be seen to signal proceptivity. The effects of attractiveness on humour judgement may also be explained by an association with flirtation as flirting may be most enjoyable when directed by attractive individuals.
[Keywords: humour, attractiveness, mate choice, sex differences, context, modality]
…The current study investigated whether humour is subject to a halo effect, how attractiveness relates to funniness for different relationship contexts and how this relates to sex of the producer. Firstly, the results support the hypothesis that the physical attractiveness of the producer influences the attractiveness of humour, offering support for et al 2009’s Interest Indicator model rather than 2000’s Mating Mind model which suggested that humour should generally enhance attractiveness.
…In this condition, there was a strong relationship between attractiveness for long-term and short-term relationships and funniness in males, but not in female actors. This is in line with previous work suggesting that funniness in females is not as attractive as it is in men but it could also suggest that females who are physically attractive are not expected to be funny, whereas attractive males are. This finding seems to suggest that funniness in females may not be an indicator of genetic quality but may perhaps be a cue to another quality; in this study, it was suggested that this quality was flirtatiousness.