You’re laughing! Women find jokes less funny than men, so do these jokes make you laugh?
- In the study, the researchers tested 20 jokes on nearly 200 participants.
- The results revealed that women tend to find the jokes less funny than men.
- Meanwhile, sexist jokes are also more well tolerated by boys.
From classic ‘knock knock’ jokes to clever puns, we all enjoy a joke every once in a while.
But one piece of news suggests that, in general, men find jokes funnier than women.
In their study, researchers from the University of Würzburg tested 20 jokes on nearly 200 participants and found that women tend to find jokes less funny than men, while sexist jokes are also more tolerated by boys.
“Women perceive misogynistic jokes as a threat, especially when told by a male speaker,” said Dr. Silvana Weber, who led the study.
“Jokes that put down men don’t pose a threat to men, regardless of who tells them.”
From classic ‘knock knock’ jokes to clever puns, we all enjoy a joke every once in a while. But a piece of news suggests that men generally find jokes funnier than women (file image)
In their study, the team set out to assess how men and women perceive various jokes.
“We were particularly interested in whether jokes that put down men can pose a threat to masculinity,” explained Dr. Weber.
The researchers recruited 198 participants (74 women and 124 men), who were given 20 different jokes to listen to in five categories: neutral, derogatory for men referring to masculine stereotypes, derogatory for men without reference to them. male stereotypes, joes that denigrate women with reference to female stereotypes, and misogynistic jokes without reference to female stereotypes.
Neutral jokes included: ‘How do you get an elephant in a fridge? You open the fridge door, put the elephant inside and close the door.
Jokes disparaging men and referring to masculine stereotypes included: ‘Why do little boys complain? Because they are practicing to be men.
Jokes that put down men without reference to male stereotypes included: ‘What do you call a man with half a brain? Gifted.’
Jokes disparaging women with reference to female stereotypes included: ‘Why is it a bad idea to ask Siri ‘What do women want?’ She has been talking non-stop 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 greater power in society (file image)
And misogynistic jokes without reference to female stereotypes included: ‘What do you call a woman with an opinion? Mistaken.’
As the participants heard these jokes, their reactions were recorded.
The results revealed that, overall, women 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 greater power in society.
This means that they do not see their status threatened by a prank.
To delve further into this, the team conducted a second study with 226 male participants, who listened to male put-down jokes told by both male and female speakers.
“One of our hypotheses was that, in this case, men 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 influenced their reaction.
“This suggests that men do not react to gender discriminatory humor in the same way as women,” she added.
