The art of seduction: Poke fun at yourself!

What's more is that this finding is based on a two-year scientific research which found that men who can poke fun at themselves are most the ones that are sexual magnets for women.

As a part of the study lead author Gil Greengross, of the University of New Mexico in the US and her colleagues asked female students to listen to tape recordings of men talking about themselves.

The women were then asked to score the men on sexual attractiveness.

Greengross revealed that when it comes to the type of humour that works best at getting a woman into bed, the self-deprecating kind comes in at the top of the pack.

"Many studies show that a sense of humour is sexually attractive to women but we've found that self-deprecating humour is the most attractive of all," the Telegraph quoted Greengross, as saying.

"People who used this humour were considered to be far more desirable as mates."

He added a note of caution however, saying that it can also draw attention to a man's real faults, thus turning women off.

"It is a risky form of humour because it can draw attention to one's real faults, thereby diminishing the self-deprecator's status in the eyes of others," he said.

"Think about the secondary school child whom nobody liked, who makes fun of his shortcomings.

"His peers mocked him and he was considered more pathetic than he was previously.

"This is high-risk seduction. It is not for everyone."

The study, 'Dissing Oneself: The Sexual Attractiveness of Self-Deprecating Humour', will be published in next month's Journal of Evolutionary Psychology.