“Humor and laughter are very important for our physical and mental health,” Dr. Don Nilsen told Bored Panda in a recent interview, adding that humor works as a bonding mechanism. “People who smile and laugh together develop a significant social bond that allows them to better understand each other’s perspective and point of view. Even if people have different points of view, they look for common ground in order to joke and laugh with each other. 

“Bill Fry, a former medical doctor at Stanford University, considered laughter to be a form of ‘internal jogging,’” he added.

Being with someone who can make you laugh is a gift that keeps on giving: if you’re having a bad day, your person can cheer you up, and on a good day, you both can laugh at the simplest of things for hours on end.

As a matter of fact, being able to laugh with somebody can even make them seem more attractive. Research suggests that people with a good sense of humor are likely to receive higher ratings of attractiveness and suitability than those with an average or no sense of humor at all. That’s why a good sense of humor—a common requirement for those trying their luck on dating apps—is often what people look for in a potential romantic partner.

It’s not only on dating apps that people look for potential partners with a good sense of humor. Individuals in real life seem to be drawn to funny persons, too, and there are likely a million reasons why.

However, one thing in particular might explain why people with a good sense of humor are likely to stand out among a sea of potential candidates: a recent study found that humor in a romantic partner is perceived as an indicator of creative problem-solving skills, which can be an important factor in the success and longevity of the relationship.

“Joking and laughing with your spouse or your romantic partner is almost essential in establishing the relationship,” Dr. Don Nilsen pointed out. “The reason that partners tease each other is that it is a way of testing the nature of the relationship, but be careful to keep the teasing playful and friendly, for it could get out of control.”

“People are drawn to those who have a sense of humor, but it is more complicated than that,” the expert in humor continued. “There are different kinds of senses of humor. There is a sense of irony, a sense of sarcasm, a sense of linguistic humor and language play, a sense of metaphor, and so on. And these can be powerful bonding forces, but be careful; sarcasm, for example, can be a social bonding force, but it can also result in social distancing.”

While many people consider a good sense of humor a desirable trait, not all of them are drawn to the same type of humor. A survey of Americans in different romantic situations—single, in a committed relationship, or married—found that the majority (just over 40%) prefer a ‘goofy’ sense of humor, followed by dry or witty humor, preferred by nearly a third of surveyed Americans.

Lining up on the other end of the list are sarcasm, the fans of which comprise roughly 15% of respondents, and the so-called “bathroom humor" together with self-deprecating humor, each favored by only 7%.

In a piece for Psychology Today, Dr. Martin Graff, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of South Wales, discussed a study that found that men were more likely to engage in affiliative, aggressive, and self-enhancing styles of humor compared to their female counterparts (though the extent to which they use the former didn’t differ much between the two sexes). As for women, they were seemingly more likely to use affiliative humor more than other styles.

Dr. Graff also pointed out that according to the aforementioned research, men believed they joked around more than their female partners, which the latter confirmed, agreeing that men indeed joked more than women did.

In addition to joking around more than women, men rated the quality of their jokes more highly than women rated theirs. They reportedly felt that their jokes were better than those of their female counterparts, too.

While showing off their sense of humor can help one attract a possible romantic partner, it is equally as important even after spending numerous years together. A cross-cultural study found that spousal humorousness was linked with marital satisfaction in all cultures, especially with the wife's satisfaction. Looking at the examples on this list, it’s not difficult to see why women’s satisfaction with their marriage tends to be higher with someone funny by their side.

If you’d like to see more examples of husband and boyfriend humor, continue to our previous editions of men making their partners laugh here or here.