Why love’s no laughing matter: guffaws across the table may not mean your intended finds you attractive

Making someone grin can make us feel like a first date is going well, but laughter across the table may not mean your intentions are attractive to you.

Researchers have found that while being funny is important, laughing does not affect attractiveness.

The study from Queensland University in Australia involved 554 people who had a three-minute speed date with someone of the opposite sex.

Audio of these interactions was recorded unobtrusively, allowing the scientists to analyze the laughter.

Before each speed date, participants answered questions about their romantic preferences, while at the end of the interaction they rated their partner on several characteristics, including funniness, receptiveness to humor and overall attractiveness.

The funnier someone was, the more attractive they were thought to be – but that attractiveness was not increased by the total amount of laughter generated.
Writing in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior, the researchers said: ‘There were no main effects of laughter, either given or received, and these did not differ by gender.

‘Specifically, there was no significant relationship between the amount of participants who laughed at their partner and their ratings of their partner’s overall attractiveness, and participants who received more laughter from their partners did not rate them as more attractive overall.’

Lead author Henry Wainwright said: ‘We speculate that funniness may be attractive, but that laughing at the partner may as well be the result of clumsiness or nervousness as of genuine funniness.

‘Therefore, any positive effect of funniness on attraction can be undermined by moments of nervous or awkward laughter.’

When asked if he had any advice for singles looking for a partner, he said: ‘Trying too hard to be funny when dating might hurt you more than it helps – just be yourself!’