In studies examining the effect of humor on interpersonal attractions, McGee and Shevlin (2009) found that an individual's sense of humor had a significant effect on how the individual was perceived by others.
In one part of the study, female college students were given brief descriptions of a potential romantic partner. The fictitious male was described positively as being single, ambitious, and having good job prospects. For one group of participants, the description also said that he had a great sense of humor.
For another group, it said that he had no sense of humor. After reading the description, each participant was asked to rate the attractiveness of the man on a seven-point scale from 1 (very attractive) to 7 (very unattractive). A score of 4 indicates a neutral rating.
a. The females who read the "great sense of humor" description gave the potential partner an average attractiveness score of µ = 4.53 with a standard deviation of σ = 1.04. If the sample consisted of n = 16 participants, is the average rating significantly higher than neutral (m = 4)? Use a onetailed test with a = .05.
b. The females who read the description saying "no sense of humor" gave the potential partner an average attractiveness score of µ = 3.30 with a standard deviation of σ = 1.18. If the sample consisted of n = 16 participants, is the average rating significantly lower than neutral (m = 4)? Use a one-tailed test with a = .05.