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Couples Who Love Each Other’s Sense of Humor Are Stronger, According to Science
Do you and your partner often laugh together at quirky jokes that no one else seems to get? Good news: This may be a sign of a happy relationship. Jeffrey Hall, from the University of Kansas, studied how a sense of humor can influence the relationship between partners, and it turns out that you and your partner liking the same kind of jokes is crucial.
Here at Bright Side we had a look at some work by Jeffrey Hall, and found out how a sense of humor could influence your relationship with your partner.
Humor can make your relationship stronger.
When it comes to humor in relationships, we often think of couples who tell jokes and prank each other non-stop. But it turns out that it’s much more important when we like each other’s sense of humor and create some fun together. In his work, Jeffrey Hall looked at 39 studies with more than 15,000 participants and here are his conclusions on how humor affects romantic relationships.
“That people think you are funny or you can make a joke out of anything is not strongly related to relationship satisfaction. What is strongly related to relationship satisfaction is the humor that couples create together,” says Hall. In other words, it’s crucial that we match with our loved ones in our sense of humor too. Even if your partner tells quirky jokes that no one understands, but you understand them, you like them, and you can answer in the same manner, this is just what the 2 of you need to be happy together.
“If you share a sense of what’s funny, it affirms you and affirms your relationship through laughter,” Hall continues.
Shared humor is what attracts us to our potential partners.
Studies also suggest that shared laughter is a thing that can attract your potential partner at the very beginning of an interaction. If when the 2 first meet, a woman laughs at man’s jokes (or his attempts to joke), it can be a sign that she’s truly interested in further communication. If the 2 tell jokes and laugh, it’s an even better sign of a spark between the 2.
Hall even suggests that when men try their best to make women laugh, it’s kind of like they’re “performing a script for courtship.” This is also a means by which men try to understand whether women like them or not: if a woman laughs at a man’s jokes, she gives him a sign that she’s into him.
But be careful: Make sure your humor is not aggressive.
The humor that you and your partner share can run the gamut from silly jokes you’ve heard in movies and shows to some quirky jigs that only the 2 of you can understand. But Jeffrey Hall warns the happy couples: whatever the humor you create together is, it’s important to not turn your partner into a laughing stock. Make sure your sense of humor is not aggressive. Otherwise, it will not help you establish a safe and stable connection.
“It’s good to have humor. It’s better to see it in your partner. And it’s best to share it,” concludes Hall. “Shared laughter might be a pathway toward developing a more long-lasting relationship.”
Do you and your partner like each other’s jokes? Do you think that a shared sense of humor makes your relationship stronger?
Preview photo credit Michael Loccisano / Getty Images, Kevin Tachman / Getty Images
