SS7 - EXAMINING THE ROLE OF HUMOR STYLES AND MATING CONTEXTS ON MATE DESIRABILITY
SCURS Disciplines
Psychology
Document Type
General Presentation (Oral)
Invited Presentation Choice
Not Applicable
Abstract
Humor plays a critical role in facilitating group cohesion and reducing social tensions. Examining humor from an evolutionary perspective may explain why individuals are attracted to certain humor styles and how these preferences shape humor perceptions. Sexual selection has contributed to consistent patterns: women prefer men who produce humor, whereas men often prefer women who appreciate it. Preferences also vary across humor styles, with affiliative and self‑deprecating humor generally viewed as more attractive. Despite extensive research on these dimensions, little work has examined preferences for clean versus dirty humor. Humor styles may also differ across mating contexts due to their signal of parental investment levels. Medlin et al. (2018) remains the only study to directly investigate this distinction, finding that clean humor was preferred overall across both short‑term (STM) and long‑term (LTM) mating contexts, but it was especially appealing for LTM contexts, which aligns with evolutionary theory, as dirty humor signals potentially lower likelihood of parental investment. To further examine this relationship in our current study, participants were placed in a hypothetical date scenario, in which they are invited to view a comedy performance, and learned that the hypothetical date has the same humor style (clean or dirty) as the comedian. Participants then rated their willingness to engage further with this date under both STM and LTM contexts. Participants also completed questionnaires relevant to dating, humor preferences, life history, and demographics. Data collection is ongoing. Analyses will be conducted to examine dating interest across humor styles and mating contexts. This study contributes to previous literature by identifying if there is a preference for clean vs. dirty humor across both STM and LTM contexts, as well as opening new avenues to explore this relationship across gender and life history strategies.
Keywords
Humor, Mating, Dating, Mating Strategies, Clean Humor, Dirty Humor, Life History Strategy
Start Date
10-4-2026 4:10 PM
Location
CASB 108
End Date
10-4-2026 4:25 PM
SS7 - EXAMINING THE ROLE OF HUMOR STYLES AND MATING CONTEXTS ON MATE DESIRABILITY
CASB 108
Humor plays a critical role in facilitating group cohesion and reducing social tensions. Examining humor from an evolutionary perspective may explain why individuals are attracted to certain humor styles and how these preferences shape humor perceptions. Sexual selection has contributed to consistent patterns: women prefer men who produce humor, whereas men often prefer women who appreciate it. Preferences also vary across humor styles, with affiliative and self‑deprecating humor generally viewed as more attractive. Despite extensive research on these dimensions, little work has examined preferences for clean versus dirty humor. Humor styles may also differ across mating contexts due to their signal of parental investment levels. Medlin et al. (2018) remains the only study to directly investigate this distinction, finding that clean humor was preferred overall across both short‑term (STM) and long‑term (LTM) mating contexts, but it was especially appealing for LTM contexts, which aligns with evolutionary theory, as dirty humor signals potentially lower likelihood of parental investment. To further examine this relationship in our current study, participants were placed in a hypothetical date scenario, in which they are invited to view a comedy performance, and learned that the hypothetical date has the same humor style (clean or dirty) as the comedian. Participants then rated their willingness to engage further with this date under both STM and LTM contexts. Participants also completed questionnaires relevant to dating, humor preferences, life history, and demographics. Data collection is ongoing. Analyses will be conducted to examine dating interest across humor styles and mating contexts. This study contributes to previous literature by identifying if there is a preference for clean vs. dirty humor across both STM and LTM contexts, as well as opening new avenues to explore this relationship across gender and life history strategies.