It has long been said that a man with a good sense of humour can laugh a woman in to bed, despite his looks.

Now researchers believe the opposite may also be true - that we also find attractive members of the opposite sex more amusing。

Psychologists at the University of Stirling have discovered that good-looking people were perceived as funnier when the people listening to them could see what they looked like - i.e. whether they were attractive or not。

In the study, undergraduate psychology students were videoed while being asked which two items they would take to a desert island, and why. They could pick from either chocolate, hairspray or a plastic bag。

While the students weren't told that the study was about humour, the vast majority gave the appearance of trying to be funny in their answers。

Other students were then asked to rate the desert-island comments for wit, as well as how attractive each of the commenters might be for a short-term or long-term relationship。

The researchers found that attractive individuals were rated as funnier in video clips than their less dashing counterparts。

Funnier men were also considered most attractive for a fling, the researchers found。

This might be because wit may give off the impression of not being serious or willing to commit to a long-term relationship。

Being recorded on video also made a real difference. Men who were videoed were generally considered more amusing than those who only had their voices recorded and provided a photo of themselves。

One theory is that men, in particular, use humour as a mating signal, to show-off their intelligence and good genes to women。

Another is that we use wit to indicate we are sexually attracted to people。

一直以來，人們都認為，一個幽默的男人能讓女人開心，把女人哄上床，不論他相貌如何。

現(xiàn)在研究人員認為，也許反過來說也是對的——研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，長得帥的男人更風趣。

英國斯特靈大學的心理學家發(fā)現(xiàn)，當人們可以看到講話者的面容(好看與否)時，長得好看的講話者給人感覺更幽默。

在這一研究中，研究人員讓一些心理學專業(yè)本科在讀的學生回答將把哪兩種東西帶到荒島上，并說出理由。他們可以從巧克力、發(fā)膠或塑料袋里面選，整個問答過程都錄成了視頻。

雖然研究人員沒有告訴學生這一研究和幽默有關，但絕大部分學生看起來都努力想讓自己的答案顯得有趣。

其他一部分學生被要求給這些荒島題回答的幽默感，以及各個應答者在短期或長期戀愛關系中的魅力指數(shù)打分。

研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，長得好看的人在視頻中的表現(xiàn)被認為比長相平凡的人更有趣。

研究人員還發(fā)現(xiàn)，風趣的男人被認為在短暫戀情中最有魅力。

這也許是因為風趣的外表會給人對待感情不認真或不愿意對長期感情關系負責的印象。

問答過程被錄成視頻也對結果產(chǎn)生了很大影響。一般來說，那些被錄像的男人比那些只錄下聲音、提供個人照片的男人給人感覺更幽默。

研究人員提出的一個理論是，男人尤其喜歡把幽默作為一個交配信號來向女人展示自己的才智和優(yōu)良基因。

另一個理論是，男人用風趣的談吐來表明自己被異性吸引。

該研究發(fā)表在《個性與個體差異》雜志上。