From classic ‘knock knock’ jokes to clever puns, we all enjoy a joke from time to time.
But a new suggests that in general, men find jokes funnier than women.
In their study, researchers from the University of Wurzburg tested 20 jokes on almost 200 participants, and found that women tend to find jokes less funny than men – while sexist jokes are also more well tolerated by blokes.
‘Women perceive misogynistic jokes as a threat, especially when they are told by a male speaker,’ said Dr Silvana Weber, who led the study.
‘Male-disparaging jokes do not pose a threat to men, regardless of who tells them.’
From classic ‘knock knock’ jokes to clever puns, we all enjoy a joke from time to time. But a new suggests that in general, men find jokes funnier than women (stock image)
In their study, the team set out to assess how various jokes are perceived by men and women.
‘We were particularly interested in whether jokes that are contemptuous of men can cause a threat to masculinity,’ Dr Weber explained.
The researchers enlisted 198 participants (74 women and 124 men), who were given 20 different jokes to listen to across five categories – neutral, male-disparaging that refer to male stereotypes, male-disparaging without reference to male stereotypes, female-disparaging joes with reference to female stereotypes, and misogynistic jokes without reference to female stereotypes.
Neutral jokes included: ‘How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator? You open the fridge door, put the elephant inside, and close the door.’
Male-disparaging jokes that refer to male stereotypes included: ‘Why do little boys whine? Because they’re practicing to be men.’
Male-disparaging jokes without reference to male stereotypes included: ‘What do you call a man with half a brain? Gifted.’
Female-disparaging jokes with reference to female stereotypes included: ‘Why is it a bad idea to ask Siri “What do women want?” She has been talking nonstop for the last 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 men in principle have a higher status and greater power in society (stock image)
And misogynistic jokes without reference to female stereotypes included: ‘What do you call a woman with an opinion? Wrong.’
As the participants listened to these jokes, their reactions were recorded.
The results revealed that in general, 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 men in principle have a higher status and greater power in society.
This means they do not see their status threatened by a joke.
To delve into this further, the team conducted a second study with 226 male participants, who listened to male-disparaging jokes told by 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 had any influence on their reaction.
‘This suggests that men do not react to gender discriminatory humour in the same way as women,’ she added.
