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You are laughing! Women find jokes less funny than men – so do these jokes make YOU chuckle?
- In the study, researchers tested 20 pranks on nearly 200 participants
- The results showed that women find jokes less funny than men
- Meanwhile, sexist jokes are also better tolerated by guys
From classic knock knock jokes to clever puns, we all enjoy a joke from time to time.
But a new one suggests men generally find jokes funnier than women.
In their study, researchers at the University of Würzburg tested 20 jokes on nearly 200 participants and found that women find jokes less funny than men – while sexist jokes are also better tolerated by men.
“Women see misogynistic jokes as a threat, especially when told by a male speaker,” says Dr Silvana Weber, who led the study.
“Jokes that denigrate men pose no threat to men, whoever tells them.”
From classic knock knock jokes to clever puns, we all enjoy a joke from time to time. But a new suggestion suggests men generally find jokes funnier than women (stock image)
In their study, the team looked at how different jokes are perceived by men and women.
“We were particularly interested in whether jokes that are contemptuous of men could pose a threat to masculinity,” explains Dr. Weber.
The researchers enlisted 198 participants (74 women and 124 men), who were given 20 different jokes to listen to in five categories: neutral, disparaging men referring to male stereotypes, disparaging men without reference to male stereotypes, disparaging female joes. with reference to female stereotypes, and misogynistic jokes without reference to female stereotypes.
Neutral jokes included “How do you put an elephant in a refrigerator?” You open the refrigerator door, put the elephant in and close the door.’
Man-disparaging jokes referencing male stereotypes included, “Why do little boys whine?” Because they practice being men.’
Small-scale jokes about men without reference to male stereotypes included, “What do you call a man with half a brain?” Gifted.’
Woman-disparaging jokes related to female stereotypes included, “Why is it a bad idea to ask Siri “What do women want?” She’s been talking nonstop for the past two days.’
Women were more likely to be offended by sexist jokes than men. While the reason for this remains unclear, the researchers suggest that, in principle, men have higher status and more power in society (stock image)
And misogynistic jokes with no reference to female stereotypes included, “What do you call a woman with an opinion?” Wrong.’
While the participants listened to these jokes, their reactions were recorded.
The results showed that women generally find jokes less funny than men.
Meanwhile, women are also more likely to be offended by sexist jokes than men.
While the reason for this remains unclear, the researchers suggest that, in principle, men have higher status and more power in society.
This means they don’t see their status threatened by a joke.
To dig deeper into this, the team conducted a second study with 226 male participants, who listened to disparaging jokes from male and female speakers.
“One of our hypotheses was that men in this case would show stronger devaluation tendencies and more anger if the jokes were told by a woman,” Dr Weber said.
However, the team found that this could not be confirmed in the experiment – neither the content of the jokes nor the gender of the speaker had any influence on their response.
“This suggests that men do not respond to gender-discriminatory humor in the same way as women do,” she added.