The right sense of humor for friendship and short-term relationships.

A sense of humor is high on the list of traits that everyone says they look for in potential partners, but according to a study published in Evolution and Human Behavior, the sort of humor men and women find attractive is surprisingly different.

When both men and women were asked about the traits they looked for in a partner, both groups reported a sense of humor was equally important. But when the study looked a little further, they found that while women valued both the ability to be funny and to appreciate the same sort of things they found funny, men were a little more one-sided with what they found attractive. The men surveyed didn't rate funny women as any more desirable, and instead, it was receptiveness to their own sense of humor that they valued. In other words, men want someone who's going to laugh at their jokes. For men, it wasn't as necessary that women be able to make them laugh. They were looking for someone who appreciated their capacity for what the study called their production of humor.

When men's responses were broken down by the type of relationship they were talking about, the results were even more drastic. When it came to dating and long-term relationships, it was even more important for men to find someone who appreciated their sense of humor, while funny females were better for friendship and short-term relationships.