Dr Wiseman started “the laugh lab” project in September 2001. It is the largest study of humour. Participants are invited to log on to the laugh lab website, give a few personal details, tell their favourite jokes and judge the jokes told by other people.
The project will last for a year, and the organizers hope to finally discover the world’s funniest joke. But there is also a serious purpose. The researches want to know what people from different nations and cultures find funny. And they want to find out the differences between the male and female sense of humour. The idea is that if we want to understand each other, we have to find out what makes us laugh.
This is a subject that has long interested psychologists and philosophers. Most of the time, people are not completely honest. We do things that society expects us to and say things that help us get what we want. But laughing cannot be controlled. When we laugh, we tell the truth about ourselves.
By December 2001 over 10, 000 jokes had been submitted. This gave the scientists enough evidence to make early conclusions. It seems that men and women do have different senses of humour, for instance.
“Our findings show the major differences in the ways in which males and females use humour, ” said Dr. Wiseman. “Males use humour to appear superior to others, while women are more skilled in languages and prefer word play. ”
Researchers also found that there really is such a thing as a national sense of humour. the British enjoy what is usually called “toilet humour”. But the French like their jokes short and sharp: “You’re a high priced lawyer. Will you answer two questions for 500?” “Yes. What’s the second question?”
The Germans are famous for not having a sense of humour. But the survey found that German participants were more likely to find submitted jokes funny than any other nationality. Perhaps that proves the point. Is this joke funny? I don’t know, but let’s say yes, just to be safe.
Dr Wiseman and his workmates also submitted jokes created by computer. But none of those who took part in the survey found any of them amusing. Perhaps this is relief. Computers already seem like they can do everything. At least they should leave the funny stuff to us.
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