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Humor also helps creativity, said Peter Derks, professor emeritus of psychology at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, who did not work on McCarty's study. The field of positive psychology -- which looks at well-being and happiness -- posits that humor leads to happiness and happiness leads to health, he said. This suggests that humor does have some survival value as well.
But humor is not used only in long-term sexual relationships, McCarty said. It plays an important role among friends and "also developed as a desired trait in friendship for social reasons," he said.
Do men also think funny women are more intelligent and honest? Time constraints prevented McCarty from exploring this question, but he said research suggests that men don't care much about women's sense of humor.
"A man wants a woman who laughs at his jokes and is not too bothered if his girl isn't funny at all," McCarty said.

On the other hand, Derks said, researchers have found that women who are good at being funny eliciting laughter are seen as positively as are funny men.