by Emily Blatchforf 19 July 2017
What’s do people look for in a partner? GSOH?
Most people list a ‘good sense of humour’ or ‘someone who makes me laugh’ as key attributes for a possible partner.
But different people find different things funny. Sharing a similar sense of humour is so important when it comes to dating, data scientists at eHarmony have conducted research hoping to incorporate the results into the site’s algorithm to ensure better profile matches.
Lead data scientist Jonathan Beber said they’d done analysis which focused on married couples in the first four years of marriage.
“We asked them about laughter with their partner: did they laugh at the same things? Share a similar humour? Do you laugh at things with your friends but not your partner?,” Beber told HuffPost Australia.
“What we found was married couples who shared a similar style of humour tended to have happier and more successful relationships in their first few years of marriage, and we wanted to dive deeper into that.”
Then the team spent t
o months “scouring clips on YouTube in the name of research” to ascertain how many different sorts of humour there actually were. They came up with nine.
These were:
1. Physical
Also referred to as slapstick, this style of humour involves physicality. It can be everything from clowns to mimes to funny facial expressions to someone falling over.
2. Self-deprecating
This kind of humour is a favourite among stand-up comedians, in which they basically make themselves the butt of a joke and are rewarded with laughs.
3. Surreal
As suggested by the name, this style of humour can be pretty weird, featuring illogical events, absurd situations or nonsensical themes. Or in other words, just plain silly. A good example of this is ‘Monty Python’.
4. Improvisational
Comedy without a plan, such as ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’.
The fact that the person is making up the jokes on the spot makes this style of comedy more impressive – if they do it well!
5. Wit-Wordplay
Usually a play on words, this humour involves twisting language around with humorous results. (such as puns).
6. Topical
Based on current events or trends there are lots of sketch comedy shows or late-night talk shows, such as ‘Mock The Week’. This involves having a good knowledge of what’s going on in the world (news, elections, pop culture etc.) and the ability to put a humorous spin on it.
7. Observational
Poking fun at everyday life.
8. Bodily
The home of the old toilet joke. This is everything to do with farts or other bodily functions. This is a divisive type of humour that tends to be popular with teenagers (of all ages!).
9. Dark
This style of humour usually involves some dark, depressing underlying themes, but throws some comical or unusual situations in this setting.
In a trial of 200 people, eHarmony found dark humour to be the least popular while physical humour came out on top.
eHarmony hopes to factor the nine factors of humour into their algorithm so let’s hope it helps you find your fellow weirdo. Se more in LaugtherDrive.
YouDrive thinks:
It doesn’t matter what style you like as long as you can have a good laugh at something!
