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Younger Siblings Are Funnier

Newspaper current event by Brandon on 19 August 2006, tagged as psychology and sociology

BBC News is reporting the results of a study of 1,000 people by Richard Wiseman, a psychologist known for his work with laughter, revealing that having older siblings could make you funnier. "Just over half of younger siblings questioned said it was easy to be humorous, compared with just a third of those who were first-born. And just 11% of only children had the skill."

Experts suggest younger children feel the need to compete for parental attention, and thus develop "novel ways of gaining attention. This leads them to be more creative, unconventional, adventurous and rebellious."

The study also found gender differences. "70% of women find it difficult to remember the punch line to jokes, compared with just 50% of men, ... 25% of men said they laughed most with their best friends compared with just 16% of women," and men report successfully making women laugh 71% of the time compared with just 39% when the roles are reversed.

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One shortcoming by romanizzo :: NR6

Interesting, and logical in retrospect. I'd point out, though, that his data is based on what people reported about themselves and not what others report about them. There's no shortage of people in the world that think they are funny that really aren't funny at all. Remember Bruno Kirby's character in Good Morning, Vietnam?

Posted 20 August 2006, Hide, Reply