Rodney Dangerfield: The late, great comic's use of self-deprecating humor may have been a clever strategy to keep himself out of the breeding pool.
Courtesy Mark RyanA British professor has come to the conclusion that humor may be linked to the male hormone testosterone.

Professor Sam Shuster, of Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, came up with the idea of riding his unicycle around town and tracking the various reactions he received from bystanders.

Men, it seems, mostly jeered and made jokes at his antics, while women made more encouraging comments.

“The difference between the men and women was absolutely remarkable and consistent," Professor Shuster said. He added that the most aggressive taunts came from young men.

During his yearlong study, Shuster rode his unicycle through the streets of Newcastle on Tyne, documenting some 400 reactions. The sight of a man on a unicycle was apparently something new to the region.

Three-quarters of the male comments seemed to come in the form of comic put-downs and snide remarks, and other aggressive behavior cloaked in comedy. On the other hand, reaction from adult women was almost entirely (95%) supportive.

The response from young pre-pubescent children - both boys and girls under 10 - was one of simple curiosity. From puberty to their late teens the girls showed indifference or at best minimal approval. But those boys who had just reached puberty were suddenly a bit more aggressive in their taunts, and even tried to physically knock Shuster off balance.

"At 11-13 years, the boys began to get really aggressive. Into puberty, the aggression became more marked, then it changed into a form of joke,” Shuster said.

The most aggressive of the lot were young men in cars who would roll down their windows and verbally abuse Shuster with belittling ‘jokes’. It could be they perceived Shuster’s unicycling as something that could potentially draw female attention away from them.

"This would be particularly challenging for young males entering the breeding market and thus it does not surprise me that their responses were the more threatening." Dr Nick Neave, a psychologist at the University of Northumbria.

But as men moved into adulthood, the aggression became cloaked in a more repetitive and sophisticated style of humor, which later seemed to fade away, resulting in the aging males becoming verbally more encouraging of Shuster’s cycling, just like their female counterparts. The professor thinks testosterone is at the bottom of it all.

Testosterone is the primary male sex hormone but is present in females as well. The hormone is secreted primarily in the male testes and female ovaries and plays a role in the body’s overall well-being, immune system, energy, and of course the male sex drive. A small amount comes from the adrenal glands in both sexes, but on average an adult male produces eight to ten (one source said up to twenty) times more than an adult female. However, the amount ranges so widely for people that the high end of the female range can overlap with the low end of the male range. The relatively small amount generated by females is used to produce the female hormone estrogen.

Shuster said genetics could explain the differences in reactions across the sexes, but not the rise and fall of the male response. He concluded that testosterone had to be the source of the derived humor.

LINKS

Story on BBC.com
Testosterone and health
All about humor
Some Rodney Dangerfield jokes (move the spotlight to his face)

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