Women prefer humor over strength in long-term relationships: study

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When it comes to long-term relationships, women prefer to laugh than be impressed by a shapely body.

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Study author Mitch Brown, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Arkansas, said the latest findings confirm previous research on the topic.

“Our data shows that strength and humor have an independent influence on women’s preferences, although we continue to show that women prioritize men’s strength in short-term relationships.” Brown told the school’s website.

He said that humor, on the other hand, helped create social and emotional bonds that led to long-term romance.

“These data provide evidence of how women navigate the mating market based on various fitness characteristics.”

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Brown and two psychology students surveyed the dating preferences of 394 heterosexual or bisexual women at a large public university. The average age of participants was 19, and 251 women reported being single while 143 had a partner.

They wanted to find out how women evaluate the attractiveness of strong men who use associative or aggressive humor in short- and long-term relationships.

Affiliate has been defined as humor that attempts to connect or connect rather than offend or alienate.

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The study found that aggressive humor was not a desirable trait for women seeking long-term relationships.

The researchers also suspected that physical strength and humor had different effects on women’s preferences and were not related.

Ultimately, Brown said women’s choices vary and “often require weighing the costs and benefits of different constellations of characteristics.”

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