Abstract

Females in different phases of their menstrual cycle were given the opportunity to select comedy, drama, and game-show programs for an evening's worth of watching television. Additionally, they rated their enjoyment of a battery of cartoons and watched excerpts from several television programs. It was found that premenstrual and menstrual women preferred comedy over alternative choices more strongly than did women midway through the cycle. It is suggested that this preference reflects a desire to overcome the hormonally mediated noxious mood states that are characteristically associated with the premenstrual and menstrual phases of the cycle. Appreciation of humor and comedy was not found to vary with cycle phases, however.