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In a 2007 Vanity Fair article Christopher Hitchens asked: Why are men, taken on average and as a whole, funnier than women?
Well a recent study finds that men might have a tiny edge over women in producing humor but the gap is too small to account for the stereotype.
Scientists had 16 male and 16 female subjects write funny captions for 20 New Yorker magazine cartoons in 45 minutes. Then the captions were rated by a different group of 34 male and 47 female subjects.
Men’s captions rated higher on average than women’s captions. But only by a mere 0.11 points out of perfect score of 5.0. The study is published in the journal Psychonomic Bulletin and Review.
The researchers also found that unfunny captions were more often wrongly attributed to women and funny ones misattributed to men.
Given the tiny edge men held, why does the stereotype have a strong hold? Maybe men just make more attempts at humor. For example, fewer women win the New Yorker caption contests, but fewer enter. When women do enter, however, they tend to win with fewer attempts compared to men.
Which may give women the last laugh.
—Christie Nicholson
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
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12 Comments
Add CommentWell, I think another possible reason is the evolution effect. The desirable trait list for women to choose a mate usually includes humor, on the other hand, men prefer pretty, kind rather than humorous. So men have to try hard to be humorous to attract the opposite sex just as male birds make every effort to sing better.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGood post. Besides the claim that New Yorker cartoons can be made funny, the obvious problem is
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthe interpretation that funny means "can write funny captions to cartoons". Print is drab next to
a human who can use nuanced glances, wild gesticulations and varied tone, and infinitely varied
approaches to story-telling, imitation, and persona.
Seeing Tina Fey on a talk show some time ago, I remember feeling disappointed that she wasn't
quite funny, even at moments when this clearly was her intent. Yet she is to me the greatest
comedy writer working today. Tracy Morgan on the other hand can make almost any line sound funny,
but his writing isn't in the same league as Fey's.
Random thoughts:
Is this the general assessment of Fey and Morgan, or just that of a certain demographic (for
example, white American males)? In other words, do men and women mean different things by
"funny"?
What we really mean when we say someone is funny is: Does this person make us laugh, not by
performing on stage or writing a satirical essay, but during the course of daily life? This is
the question to ask to make any inferences about our evolution and the nature of the genders.
Any ideas or criticisms welcomed.
Because men are more likely to share their humour with women than vice versa.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAlso, this experiment is incredibly unscientific.
Exactly how is it "incredibly unscientific". How would you rate your comment; Incredibly Irrational?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHA HA. Saying that New Yorker cartoons could be funny is a joke in itself! LOL
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs a man you have to be very careful of what you say around women and even more so when it concerns them directly. Generally they have a very poor sense of humor.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's also why men retired together after dinner, separate from the women.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisStart speculation: Seems we expect men to be funny and women to be more nurturing and kind. I think women in general are harder on themselves and are less prone to put themselves out there and risk a joke flopping. Perhaps the political correctness required recently as a result of radical feminists have labeled women as generally humorless or certainly prone to offense from a really good off-color joke.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHeck, I'm still waiting for a woman to say something funny.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI mean on purpose.
Also, I always thought that the person listening to or reading the joke was partly responsible for determining the humor factor. Doesn't stacking the readership in favor of women 47/34 have an effect on the outcome. For example, the joke above "I mean on purpose" was golden, but I bet the women didn't think so, illustrating another the point that women don't laugh at themselves either.
Of course, I am sexist, preferring women to men by a long shot, so don't listen to me.
In my opinion there is no difference between sense of humor in women's and men's ,the only difference is that mans are much active or volunteer than women's in making a fun and create some funny things maybe men's point of view to the life is a bit different also females are more interested in laughing than telling jokes but I don't believe to this statistics cause I've nevre seen a women can tell a good joke!!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI see that there are a lot of bitter, woman hating queers posting on this article. How sad for them.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI had never heard this stereotype before so it is easy for me to disbelieve it. I will say that most of my favorite comedians are male but there are several female comedians that are quite good too. Perhaps it is the fact that I'm male that makes it so. It is easier for me to relate to men. Most of my favorite authors are female but there are several male authors that are pretty good too. Oddly enough I've never encountered a stereotype that men are lousy authors. Could it be that women are less likely to create stupid stereotypes? I've certainly found that heterosexual men gossip a lot more than women. I've found that men tend to be a lot less honest as well.
I thought it was so the women could clean up ;-)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this