Science Says If You Have A "Smarter" Sense Of Humor, You're More Likely To Find Love

I like my men like I like my martinis: bone dry and full of gin. Scratch that (I tried). However, I do like men who have a dry sense of humor. I would posit that if polled, 75 percent of my friends would say that "sense of humor" is the number one quality they look for in a partner. I'd certainly agree, but I don't need to date a meme god (though I'm not against it). What does "sense of humor" even mean, anyway? eHarmony's humor and love study uncovered six different types of humor personalities, and found that "smarter" senses of humor made participants more likely to find love.

Welp, now I'm even more terrified that I'll never be funny enough at text message-banter to get a husband.

But before you start googling "good jokes," remember that the main determination of eHarmony's research was that a "sense of humor" can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people and discovered six unique humor "personalities."

The new study surveyed a sample of 1,538 total participants from eHarmony's member base. They were asked to rate how funny they found a series of memes from 1 to 5. (Because apparently memes are the standard of comedy in 2017.) A little under one third of respondents identified as male, and over two thirds female.

All in all, the survey found that the type of humor that respondents found funniest indicated whether they were more likely to communicate with matches, make the first move, or even more likely to be viewed. Sound complicated? I promise it's not. Here's what eHarmony's survey discovered about humor and dating:

First, Here Are The Six "Humor Personalities" They Uncovered

The six different types of humor included bodily humor (toilet/sex stuff), dark humor (taboo stuff), physical humor (prank stuff), self-deprecating humor (hating on yourself stuff), surreal humor (illogical stuff), and wordplay humor (punny stuff). Out of all of these different types of LOLs, respondents found physical humor the most funny, with an average rating of 2.97 per meme shown. So like, people falling down humor. (Ugh, I know.)

The next most funny type was bodily humor (2.91 score) and then self-deprecating humor (2.86... thank god). That said, you're not expected to talk about how loud you snore at night, or slip on a banana peel on a first date — these memes just polled the best in terms of "humor personalities."

So Which Type Communicates The Best?

According to the results of the study, those who were most likely to actually engage in communication with a match after viewing a profile were those who identified wordplay and physical humor as the most hilarious. This is interesting, because in terms of education-level of respondents, these two are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Respondents found physical humor less funny and wordplay significantly more funny the more educated they were.

Those who found surreal humor funny were least likely to communicate. So, maybe the lesson here is, don't get weird when you're online dating. Save that stuff for in-person times.

Which Personality Was More Likely To Make The First Move?

Those survey respondents who found wordplay humor the most funny were more likely to send initial messages than any other type. I guess this makes sense. If you think puns and cleverly emphasizing certain words is LOL-worthy, you're probably decent at crafting funny sentences yourself.

It would also make sense that those who found wordplay most funny messaged the most, considering words are the first line of flirtation one has on a dating site like eHarmony. I mean, sending a Barstool Sports video might make a match laugh, but it would be pretty impersonal compared to a quick-witted sentence about the pizza slice you're holding in your fourth profile pic.

Which Personality Was The Most Likely To Be Viewed?

This result of the study gave me the most hope for the human race: Being smart is actually super sexy. Those who found wordplay humor funnier were significantly more likely to be viewed by matches. Interesting. Perhaps these clever people are smart in terms of choosing profile pictures and filling out their dating blurbs as well.

I, for one, am very attracted to intelligence. I don't care if you went to Harvard, but a person who is knowledgeable and thoughtful is undeniably attractive. It's Darwinism — if you want your babies to be smart, you probably want to fit a smart partner. Again, surreal humor types were the least likely to be viewed overall. I maintain that surrealism is best experienced in person.

A type of humor that I'm a big fan of, dark humor, was also the type of humor all age groups found to be least funny. While that's disappointing as one who loved making wicked jokes, I usually don't start with the polarizing funnies until wayyy into a relaysh, so it makes sense that when looking for love on the internet, people are thinking that "darkly."

Why The F Did eHarmony Do This?

The company plans to offer this meme-based survey to its users in the coming months, and they will be able to compare their results to those of their matches. This all sounds a little heady for me — what happened to the old school meet cute? — but, hey, a match when it comes to laughing is extremely important.

“It's human nature to want to be with someone who can make you laugh.” said Grant Langston, CEO of eHarmony. “With this research effort, our ultimate goal is to be able to bake humor into our complex machine learning algorithms and begin matching singles based on what makes for not only a great first date, but also a long lasting relationship.”

OK Mr. Langston, I'm sold. Maybe I'll try eHarmony, if not for the lasting relationship, but just to find out what "humor personality" I am. I feel like I'm the "wordplay" type, but I'm probably overestimating myself. Still, I was a Ravenclaw when the Harry Potter Pottermore site "sorted" me into a house (humblebrag, except that I really wanted to be a Gryffindor.) Either way, here's to laughing on more dates.

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