How to Talk to Anyone (Junior Talker #5) by DeYtH Banger (old books to read .TXT) 📕

Evolutionary psychology is the field of study that explains human behaviors, preferences, and emotions based on known evolutionary mechanisms. Some of the most egregious sex differences in comedy fit well with the most important evolutionary force known to shape sex specific behaviors and preferences, sexual selection theory.

According to sexual selection theory, different life histories for males and females helped shape their mate preferences and behaviors and resulted in some disparities in the way they enjoy and use humor today. These differences arise from asymmetry in their reproductive costs and the amount of time and energy devoted to parental investment. In humans, as with most other mammals, women bear the heavier costs of reproduction, such as pregnancy and child rearing, while having a shorter reproductive span. This leads women to become choosier in selecting a mate, since the consequences of selecting the wrong partner could be much more costly (e.g., raising a child alone). Thus, women should be more attentive to cues that indicate high mate value, while men would try to signal that they are high quality mates.

Sometimes, mate quality can be directly observed, as in the cases of masculinity in men, youth in women and symmetry in the face and the body of both sexes – all direct indicators of reproductive value and health. Other times, assessing mate quality of another individual cannot be attained directly and has to rely on advertisement. Humor might be such an indirect fitness indicator, a signal for underlying individual genetic quality. This is similar to the peacock’s tail which is a very heavy, colorful ornament that requires much energy to develop and support and is easy for predators to spot. Peacocks with the bigger and more colorful tails, ones that are more symmetrical and costly, attract peahens because the tails are an honest, hard-to-fake indicator of fitness.

The same mechanism might manifest itself with humor. Humor can be a good way to advertise intelligence and mate quality. Because women are choosier than men, we should expect men to use humor more often and more creatively to signal their mate quality and attract women, while women should be more sensitive to men producing high quality humor when choosing a mate. Numerous studies on humor support this tendency of men to try and be funny as an honest advertisement and women to choose men who are funny.

In regular conversations, men are much more likely to crack jokes, especially when women are present, while women tend to laugh more especially in response to male speakers. If you check personal ads on dating sites for example, you will see that men show a proclivity to advertise their humor ability by the sheer number of ads containing humor compared to those of women. Men also put more effort into producing high quality humor in their ads, while women recognize that humor creativity is important, and seek men who offer it. Evidence also shows that men who used humor in their ads were more likely to be successful in finding a date, but it made no difference for women using humor, as men do not particularly care if a woman is funny (though they would like her to laugh at their jokes). The emphasis that both sexes put on the humor production abilities of men, and the reverse role it plays in mate choice, is a recognition of the significance of humor creation in signaling mate quality and the fact that women are choosier than men.

My own research, described in detail here, shows that on average, men had slightly higher humor production abilities than women, humor is correlated with intelligence, and people with a great sense of humor enjoy better mating success. All these findings point to the same conclusion: that humor might be a vehicle for mating success, mostly for men but not for women. Males’ greater tendency to use humor to make others laugh also seems to begin in childhood and adolescence, as more men than women report being the class clowns.

Now, let’s go back to comedy. What in the comedy world can suggest that men are more prepared by evolution for the path to success? For one, men might use comedy to enhance their mating success. This can be done either directly or indirectly. I don’t have data on the frequency of sex in the comedy world, but from what I have heard, male comedians enjoy quite an active sex life, especially on the road where there are no strings attached. In fact, casual sex with many different partners fits well into men’s evolved psychology. For women, the cost of casual sex could be big, and they have to be careful who they go to bed with. This is why women comedians are much less likely to have sex on the road or casual sex in general. In fact, one female comedian once told me that if a comedienne sleeps with other comedians, rumors about it spread quickly and would give her a bad reputation. Male comedians do not have to worry about this and sometimes even compete for who gets more sex.

Another way that comedy fits into male evolved psychology is that being a successful comedian can enhance one’s status. Male comedians are more likely to be interested in gaining higher status through comedy, which indirectly can lead to more sexual partners, as high status men are more desirable for sex. In light of sexual selection theory, high status is favored by women when choosing a mate because it gives them access to resources which are valuable for survival, food and health, and can help raise future offspring. Thus, men’s pursuit of high status and women’s desire for such men as mates could motivate more men to look for a career in stand-up comedy, while for women, being a professional comedian may not enhance their mate value by much. It is worth noting that humor itself can increase mate desirability just because it is associated with another, sexually dimorphic trait, such as status. One of my own studies found that individuals with higher status increased their attractiveness by using humor but the effect did not work for lower status individuals (it was especially strong when using self-deprecating humor, which can be seen as a form of handicap, similar to the peacock’s tail). This is another evolutionary mechanism that favors men in comedy, because the motivation for getting high status is stronger for men.

Men are also known to be more competitive than women, again, partially because of biological tendencies. Stand-up comedy is a very competitive profession and not everyone is willing to put all the effort into succeeding in it. Women might show less desire to pursue such a competitive job, while men’s ambition for high status would drive them to seek what is considered to be a highly sought-after profession.

This competitive nature in men might often lead them to take more risks compared to women. Men might be more willing to sustain the bumps in the road to glory. More men than women might be inclined to live an uncomfortable life with little job security for a long period of time, while traveling from place to place endlessly. The large uncertainties of comedy, the low pay, the competitiveness of the profession, the long wait to breakthrough – all of these seem to better suite men’s psychological adaptations.

Another issue that men might be better suited for, or at least more willing to embrace, is the long and lonely hours a comedian needs to spend alone. Writing is a solitary process, as is practicing the routine. Women are more social creatures than men, preferring to be around other people, either at work or in social situations. Comedy does not offer much time for human interaction, with one big exception, the night of the show. It is possible that fewer women are willing to pay this price to succeed.

Lastly, there is the issue of men’s superior humor ability at the extremely high end of the spectrum. If the average man does have slightly better humor production ability than the average woman, it might be plausible to think that when we look at the highest level of humor production, i.e., stand-up comedians, we should find more men. This is also due to the fact that the distribution of humor ability is likely not the same for men and women. In math, for example, many studies have shown that at the top 1% of math ability, we find 8 men to one woman. This is exactly the same ratio we find among comedians. It’s not that women are not funny, but that in the very extreme level of humor production there are more men than women. If we look at the highest possible level of humor production, the one that includes the greatest comedians of all time, the picture is exactly the same. For example, on the list of the 100 greatest stand-up comedians published by Comedy Central a few years ago, only nine were women.

Overall, comedy life seems to better fit with male psychology than that of women, but there are a couple of things to also consider. Even if men are better suited for comedy life, and more men succeed in comedy than women, that does not mean that women cannot be successful comedians as evidenced by the many great women in comedy. If we make comedy life easier for everyone, maybe more women will turn to this profession. On the other hand, we should not expect that the number of women will equal that of men anytime soon, and that shouldn’t necessarily be a problem.

Also we should remember the number of failures in comedy. Most people who try comedy do not become famous and should expect moderate success at best. Only a few can become very successful and famous, and that’s the nature of every profession. But just as more men succeed in comedy compared to women, so there are many more men who fail. Just because men tend to be risk takers, have higher motivation that is relevant to comedy, have an easier time to travel and so on, does not guarantee that they will succeed. In the end, many more men fail than the one that makes it big.

There are also some possible benefits for being a female comedian. Because women are quite a rare breed in comedy, they are sometimes paid more. Since the audience is usually divided equally between men and women, and women want to see more female comedians, owners try to supply this demand by booking more female comedians. I don’t know how prevalent this practice is, but I heard it from a several comedians. 

In sum, there are probably many reasons why there are disproportionally fewer women in comedy. Simply put by Lewis Black “Female comics have a harder job than male comics”. Some of the problems lie in cultural barriers and sexist attitudes, but other factors might be more related to different evolutionary mechanisms that shaped men’s and women’s lives. In my view, this is a good case where culture and biology interact. There is no doubt that more research is needed on this topic, and I hope to be able to contribute to it soon. 

This is my last post in this series on stand-up comedians and comedy. I have always been impressed by stand-up comedians and their work and know how hard it is to succeed in the profession. I would like to thank all the comedians who participated in my study, shared their experiences, and provided me with valuable information that I was happy to share with you all. Special thanks to all the comedians and lay people who read and responded to my posts.

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