If you’re looking for a mate with a good sense of humour, their ability to tell a joke may be less important than you think.
For scientists say that whether we laugh or not depends more on how much we like a person than if they really are funny.
Sophie Scott, a professor of neuroscience at University College London, said: ‘You hear women say, I really fancy him, he really makes me laugh.
'What she means is, he’s really attractive and I laugh because I fancy him. It’s to do with how much they like him.'
She told the British Science Festival in Bradford that laughter seems to have its roots deep in evolution, and remains 'extremely socially important'.
'When you laugh with people you show you agree with them,’ she said. ‘You are showing you like them – if you didn’t you would withhold that laughter.'
Laughter can also diffuse tension in established relationships, with couples who laugh together, staying together.
The professor’s own research found that laughter, unlike the sweet sigh of contentment or the cheer of triumph, are cross-cultural, with people with remote parts of Africa recognising when a Westerner is amused and vice versa.
She said: ‘It’s looking like laughter might be an emotion that is part of our evolutionary history, it’s part of our make-up.’
Laughter, it seems, helps us in all sorts of situations.
Professor Scott said: ‘It seems to be a socially extremely important emotion.
'It is an emotion you primarily find in social settings - you are 30 times more likely to laugh if you are with somebody else than if you are on your own.
'And you will laugh more if you know them and you will laugh more if you like them.
'If you ask human beings when do you laugh, they talk about jokes and they talk about comedy and humour.
'If you look at when they laugh, it’s in the interactions that you find the most laughter, which means that in practice that you laugh most during conversations with other people.
'Interestingly, you are still very rarely laughing at jokes.
The professor advises us all to make time to laugh.
She said that while some people go to comedy clubs or even do laughter yoga – the term for a self-help group in which people force themselves to laugh – nothing beats having a good giggle with your friends.
Professor Scott said: ‘At its heart, the natural place where you find laughter is in interactions, so I would say give yourself as many opportunities to laugh with the people who make you laugh.
'Don’t think that is time wasted, it is probably one of the best things you can do with your time.'
