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The highest form of intelligence: Sarcasm increases creativity for both expressers and recipients
Abstract
Sarcasm is ubiquitous in organizations. Despite its prevalence, we know surprisingly little about the cognitive experiences of sarcastic expressers and recipients or their behavioral implications. The current research proposes and tests a novel theoretical model in which both the construction and interpretation of sarcasm lead to greater creativity because they activate abstract thinking. Studies 1 and 2 found that both sarcasm expressers and recipients reported more conflict but also demonstrated enhanced creativity following a simulated sarcastic conversation or after recalling a sarcastic exchange. Study 3 demonstrated that sarcasm’s effect on creativity for both parties was mediated by abstract thinking and generalizes across different forms of sarcasm. Finally, Study 4 found that when participants expressed sarcasm toward or received sarcasm from a trusted other, creativity increased but conflict did not. We discuss sarcasm as a double-edged sword: despite its role in instigating conflict, it can also be a catalyst for creativity.
... Es un hecho que las fronteras de los estudios sobre la ironía verbal se han corrido más allá de lo esperado, gracias a trabajos como los de Booth (1986), Ballart (1994), Schoentjes (2003), Rodríguez-Rosique (2009), Yus-Ramos (2009, Ruiz-Gurillo (2012), Huang et al. (2015), entre otros. Asimismo, aunque en menor medida, el estudio de la ironía en ámbitos educativos empieza a ganar terreno, como lo permiten concluir los estudios de Torrealba (2004), Piatti (2009), Gómez (2013), Pinzón et al. (2019) y Caro et al. (2020). ...
... Un porcentaje significativo de los entrevistados, el 64 % de los estudiantes, tiende a mostrar los efectos positivos de las ironías; verbigracia, la informante 2 considera que la ironía en el aula puede ser positiva, y para ratificar esta afirmación relata una anécdota con un profesor de matemáticas que ambientaba sus clases y sus jornadas evaluativas con ironía; esto, según ella, generaba un ambiente más afable para la presentación de los exámenes, reducía los nervios y bajaba los niveles de estrés previos a la evaluación. Considera que la ironía suaviza la comunicación y la prefiere ante los eufemismos o los comentarios directos; se refiere a sí misma como "mimada" y reconoce que la ironía dinamiza positivamente su interacción con los docentes, aunque aclara que esto depende del profesor y la confianza previa, en lo que claramente coincide con Huang et al. (2015) y en los hallazgos de la investigación anterior de Arias et al. (2021). En síntesis, la ironía es positiva para esta persona, porque genera un ambiente de aula afable, porque suaviza la comunicación y dinamiza la interacción con los docentes. ...
... En segundo lugar, en términos generales, emerge del estudio una favorable percepción de la ironía, lo que da pie a una posible función formativa en dos sentidos; el primero, en función de las posibilidades que ofrece la ironía como preparadorareparadora de los entornos de aula; y el segundo, de acuerdo con su valor cognitivo, lo que daría paso a la reflexión, el pensamiento crítico, la perspectiva múltiple y la interpretación de la polifonía y la polisemia. Desde estas dos vertientes las prospectivas se avizoran promisorias, en diálogo cercano con investigaciones anteriores como las de Torres-Hernández (2012) yHuang et al. (2015); sin embargo, todavía quedan muchos interrogantes por despejar a través de trabajos que exploren estas huellas de ...
Este artículo examina los más significativos resultados de la investigación“La recepción de la ironía verbal en el aula de clase. Análisis de las reflexiones demaestros en formación y en ejercicio sobre su experiencia previa como estudiantes”.Desde un interés histórico-hermenéutico, analiza 74 encuestas y 32 entrevistassemiestructuradas dirigidas a estudiantes y egresados de la Licenciatura en Literaturay Lengua Castellana de la Universidad del Quindío que han participado en asignaturasrelacionadas con el humor y la ironía, como parte de un ejercicio de memoria quepotencie su práctica pedagógica. Este artículo aborda dos frentes de análisis: 1) lapercepción de la ironía durante el proceso escolar; 2) el valor formativo de la ironía. Deellos se confirma lo que estudios anteriores indican sobre conciencia metapragmáticay se detecta una favorable percepción de la ironía, como preparadora-reparadora delos entornos de aula y como aliada para el desarrollo cognitivo
... Furthermore, Mendiburo-Seguel and Heintz (2020) assessed the relationship between the CSM scales and subjective happiness in a sample of Chilean adults, showing a positive correlation with irony use, but not sarcasm use. The PANAS was also used by Huang, Gino, and Galinsky (2015) in a study on the influence of sarcasm on abstract thinking and creativity. However, they found no statistically significant mood effects in a sample of US adults: "none of the indirect effects of sarcasm on creativity through any mood measures was significant" (p. ...
... In sum, three studies (Dionigi, Duradoni, & Vagnoli, 2021a;Heintz, 2017;Huang, Gino, & Galinsky, 2015) showed a lack of a statistically significant relationship between irony and/or sarcasm use and measures of psychological well-being. Two studies showed a positive relationship (Mendiburo-Seguel & Heintz, 2020;. ...
... However, once the influence of sarcasm use was controlled for in the analysis, irony use showed a positive correlation with the FFMQ subscales of observing and describing. Huang, Gino, and Galinsky (2015) examined the role of sarcasm use in abstract thinking and creativity and found that producing sarcasm in a vignette-based task was related to higher scores in the Remote Association Task (RAT, Mednick, 1968), which measures creativity. Moreover, recalling a situation where the participants used sarcasm was related to a higher likelihood of solving the Duncker Candle Problem (Duncker, 1945), a well-known measure of creativity, as well as a matchstick-moving puzzle. ...
We carried out a systematic review of psycholinguistic, empirical, quantitative studies on verbal irony use and individual differences (i.e. psychological, not demographic, traits that significantly differentiate individuals). Out of 5,967 publications screened, 29, comprising 35 studies in total, were included. Following a qualitative content analysis, six thematic clusters were identified, representing areas of research in individual differences in irony use: (a) psychological well-being, (b) personality traits, (c) humor-related traits, (d) cultural factors, (e) social skills, and (f) cognitive factors. The results of the studies in each cluster are summarized and conclusions for further research are presented. In particular, the systematic review suggests that irony and sarcasm should be clearly delineated as separate, yet related phenomena due to differing patterns of correlations with specific individual differences. Additionally, significant methodological heterogeneity between the studies suggests the need for greater standardization of irony use measures.
... Creativity, morality, and organizations/technology P A R T V Huang et al., 2015;Liu et al., 2020) or may even influence others' creativity (e.g., Feng et al., 2018;Jiang et al., 2019;Tu & Lu, 2013). Given the significance of creativity and ethics and the growing attention on mixed results about their relationships, it is particularly necessary and helpful to review and summarize the relevant literature on whether, how, and when creativity has effects on (un)ethical behavior or (un)ethical behavior has effects on creativity. ...
... This type of thinking helps increase individuals' creativity because it can help them come up with innovative and even unprecedented solutions (Finke, 1995;Schooler & Melcher, 1995;Ward, 1995;Ward et al., 2004). Huang et al. (2015) found that unethical behavior in the form of constructing sarcasm 5 and interpreting sarcasm increases abstract thinking since individuals need to realize the difference between the intended meaning and the stated meaning in both activities (e.g., Grice, 1975;Kumon-Nakamura et al., 1995). Moreover, abstract thinking can traverse the psychological distance caused by the contradiction between these two meanings (Trope & Liberman, 2010), which in turn boosts creativity. ...
... 11 Besides leadership, an individual's sarcasm can influence others' creativity. Huang et al. (2015) found that receiving sarcastic remarks is positively associated with recipients' creativity through abstract thinking. Discussion them into four categories. ...
... Creativity, morality, and organizations/technology P A R T V Huang et al., 2015;Liu et al., 2020) or may even influence others' creativity (e.g., Feng et al., 2018;Jiang et al., 2019;Tu & Lu, 2013). Given the significance of creativity and ethics and the growing attention on mixed results about their relationships, it is particularly necessary and helpful to review and summarize the relevant literature on whether, how, and when creativity has effects on (un)ethical behavior or (un)ethical behavior has effects on creativity. ...
... This type of thinking helps increase individuals' creativity because it can help them come up with innovative and even unprecedented solutions (Finke, 1995;Schooler & Melcher, 1995;Ward, 1995;Ward et al., 2004). Huang et al. (2015) found that unethical behavior in the form of constructing sarcasm 5 and interpreting sarcasm increases abstract thinking since individuals need to realize the difference between the intended meaning and the stated meaning in both activities (e.g., Grice, 1975;Kumon-Nakamura et al., 1995). Moreover, abstract thinking can traverse the psychological distance caused by the contradiction between these two meanings (Trope & Liberman, 2010), which in turn boosts creativity. ...
... 11 Besides leadership, an individual's sarcasm can influence others' creativity. Huang et al. (2015) found that receiving sarcastic remarks is positively associated with recipients' creativity through abstract thinking. Discussion them into four categories. ...
The introductory chapter to Creativity and Morality outlines the relationship between the constructs, summarizing the AMORAL model of dark creativity (Kapoor & Kaufman, in press). Specifically, the Antecedents, Mechanisms (individual), Operants (environmental), Realization, Aftereffects, and Legacy of the creative action are theorized and described within the context of general and dark creativity. We present real-life and simulated examples to illustrate the application of the theory across multiple domains, from law enforcement to interpersonal relationships, from the initial idea to the impact of the eventual action. The AMORAL model will help introduce the main concepts that will be addressed in subsequent chapters.
... Even if figurative language is not inherently more creative, it might yet possess greater potential to be used creatively (Gerrig & Gibbs, 1988), which in turn might amplify perceptions of creativity associated with figurative language use. Indeed, some studies have described a positive association between cognitive measures associated with creative ability and ratings of creativity in figurative language (Beaty & Silvia, 2013;Huang et al., 2015;Silvia & Beaty, 2012, 2021. Moreover, purposeful uses of figurative language can be considered a form of language play, which involves intentional manipulation of the form and/or meaning of language for enjoyment or pleasure (Bell, 2016;Cook, 2000). ...
... Along the same lines, cognitive individual differences have been shown to influence metaphor and verbal irony processing in different ways (e.g., Olkoniemi et al., 2016), which further suggests a qualitative difference in how metaphor and verbal irony are processed and comprehended. A series of elicited figurative language production experiments suggest a third difference between metaphor and verbal irony in terms of their connections to creative ability (Beaty & Silvia, 2013;Huang et al., 2015;Silvia & Beaty, 2012, 2021Skalicky, 2020). In these studies, creativity is typically defined as a cognitive ability following a definition from psychology which identifies two main components of creativity: originality and effectiveness (Runco & Jaeger, 2012). ...
... Similar attempts have been made to link cognitive ability to verbal irony and sarcasm use. One study found that individuals who recalled, produced, or listened to sarcasm reported increased levels of abstract thinking, which in turn boosted performance on subsequent tests of creative ability (Huang et al., 2015). However, no relationship was found between sarcasm and abstract thinking in a different study where participants were explicitly asked to be sarcastic (Skalicky, 2020). ...
The purpose of this study is to examine layperson perceptions of creativity associated with figurative language and language play. To do so, participants wrote attention-grabbing responses for two news stories and rated whether their responses were less, equally, or more creative when compared to preconstructed responses containing different combinations of metaphor and sarcasm. Participants’ answers were also analyzed for the presence of figurative language or language play. Results demonstrated participants were less likely to self-rate their answers as more creative when compared to preconstructed responses containing figurative language, but only for specific instances of metaphor and sarcasm. Moreover, participants who included figurative language or language play in their responses were significantly more likely to self-rate their answers as more creative. These results suggest layperson perceptions of creativity are influenced by figurative language and language play in a manner which supports scholarly understandings of the relationship between language and creativity.
... Sarcasm, for instance, is one of the most sophisticated forms of speech that, ironically, many people are less creative when trying to employ. Some suggest that such form of speech requires high Intelligence Quotient (IQ) to be able to express, let alone to catch and understand [15]. In [16], the authors suggested that people tend to rely on cheap or lazy cues to detect it. ...
... They have shown that Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) patients exhibit cognitive deficits, including being unable to understand and detect sarcastic and paradoxical sarcastic statements, both being sophisticated forms of speech. This goes along with other observations that suggest that sarcasm requires high IQ to understand [15], even though low IQ does not necessarily mean having neurological problems. ...
... The classification TPR, precision, recall and F1-measure are given in TABLE 14. The confusion matrix of classification is given in TABLE 15. ...
Sarcasm is a sophisticated form of speech used to convey a message other than the apparent one. To date, there are numerous papers that have discussed the idea of automatic sarcasm detection and how it could be used for sentiment analysis improvement. The objective of this paper is to provide non-experts with a comprehensive overview of the state of research in this field and the main findings regarding sarcasm detection. Therefore, in this paper, we survey the state-of-the-art work done in this field, we recapitulate the research effort done, with focus on the more recent works, and we present the expected performance out of the proposed works. Nevertheless, we study in detail how this form of speech is used in different platforms, and how the way we express it evolves over time. We also discuss the proposition that suggests that sarcasm is a polarity switcher for sentiment analysis. To achieve these goals, we run some experiments on 3 different data sets, collected from 3 different platforms, and compare how sarcasm is employed in each. These platforms are Twitter, Reddit, and some news websites. Our experiments show that the way sarcasm is expressed is highly dependent on language mastery and the platform used. For instance, in the Twitter data set, whose users vary widely in age, language mastery, and understanding what sarcasm means, the overall precision of detection of sarcastic statement reaches 89.31%. In the reddit data set, the precision of detection of such statements is about 55.33%, and in the news data set, the precision reaches over 96.67%. Our experiments also show that, to a great extent, it is safe to affirm that sarcasm, when employed, switches the polarity of a given piece of text: for the 3 platforms presented above, sarcasm has been a polarity switcher for 89.3%, 89.1%, and 92.0% of their respective instances.
... This effect remains consistent across different types of sarcasm. Sarcasm can have various purposes, such as humor and critique [5]. Developing computational models for generating sarcastic messages can significantly improve conversational agents and creative content. ...
... The method considers short sentences from the Stanford Sentiment Treebank Dataset, Amazon Product Reviews, Yelp Reviews, and the Sentiment 140 dataset. Today, researchers leverage deep learning models like LSTMs and Transformers for more context-aware sarcasm generation [5]; an unsupervised approach is proposed for producing sarcasm by analyzing valence and reversing semantic incongruity within the provided context. The framework consists of three primary modules: valence reversal, commonsense context retrieval, and semantic incongruity-based ranking. ...
Sarcasm, a figurative expression, plays a crucial role in human communication by conveying meanings often opposite to literal interpretation. Despite being common in daily conversations, sarcasm poses significant challenges for natural language processing (NLP) systems due to its intricate and context-sensitive nature. This study proposes a novel approach to sarcasm generation, leveraging advanced techniques in text augmentation, transfer learning, and evaluation. Our approach begins with pre-training a Transformer-based T5 model on a vast sarcastic and non-sarcastic text collection. Subsequently, we refine this model by fine-tuning it on an augmented dataset using Recurrent Generative Adversarial Networks (RGAN). Additionally, we incorporate sampling techniques to promote diversity in generated text and evaluate the model’s performance using sarcasm detection models as evaluators. Our experimental findings reveal notable advancements in generating diverse and appropriate sarcastic responses compared to conventional baseline approaches.
... Participants (n = 15) completed in-depth interviews [25,26], ranging between 45 and 90 minutes. Participants were aged between 25 and 60 years, of which 10 fell within the [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45] year age group. Six of the participants were female and nine participants were male, representing sectors such as manufacturing, construction, consulting, government, and not-for-profit organizations. ...
... While overall verbal intelligence has been found to predict humor production ability [16], some cognitive abilities included in verbal comprehension, as illustrated in Fig 3, could influence specific humor use aspects. For example, semantic knowledge has been found to be important in the creation of puns [42], and abstract reasoning can mediate the effect of sarcasm on creativity [43]. General information acquired from culture can also be critical in judging the appropriateness of humor. ...
This qualitative study aims to investigate the competencies and effectiveness of humor use in workplace leadership. By exploring the elements underlying successful and unsuccessful humor use, this research offers insights into the competencies required for leaders to leverage humor effectively. Adopting a qualitative inductive approach, fifteen individual semi-structured interviews were conducted, generating a dataset of 51 critical incidents of humor use. Reflexive thematic analysis was employed to identify key themes, resulting in the identification of five central elements: Reading the context, Intention and motivation, Judgement and decision, Skillful delivery, and Understanding reactions. These elements provide a comprehensive framework for understanding humor use in the context of workplace leadership, emphasizing the importance of cognitive and emotional intelligence / competencies. The study proposes a theoretical framework based on these findings, providing the foundation of a new paradigm for understanding and measuring humor use. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of the competencies and complexities involved in using humor as a leadership tool and provides practical implications for leaders aiming to enhance their leadership effectiveness through humor.
... Recently, Huang et al. (2015) showed that both generating and responding to an ironic remark catalyzes creativity. They used a simulated conversation task whereby participants read a conversation that included ironic or sincere remarks and were asked to continue the conversation either ironically or sincerely, followed by a task measuring creative thinking whereby participants needed to either solve a problem using innovative solutions (e.g., Duncker candle problem; Duncker, 1945; olive-in-a-glass problem; Appendix D in Huang et al., 2015) or produce words that connected three unrelated words (Remote Associates Test). ...
... Recently, Huang et al. (2015) showed that both generating and responding to an ironic remark catalyzes creativity. They used a simulated conversation task whereby participants read a conversation that included ironic or sincere remarks and were asked to continue the conversation either ironically or sincerely, followed by a task measuring creative thinking whereby participants needed to either solve a problem using innovative solutions (e.g., Duncker candle problem; Duncker, 1945; olive-in-a-glass problem; Appendix D in Huang et al., 2015) or produce words that connected three unrelated words (Remote Associates Test). The authors found that after encountering verbal irony, participants offered more creative solutions. ...
Verbal irony is pervasive in social interaction, presumably because it can be used to achieve a number of communicative goals and effects. In general, verbal irony has a reputation for having negative effects, but in this article we present evidence for the cognitive, social, and emotional benefits of verbal irony and demonstrate the potential of this form of language to provide crucial psychological insights. The power of irony lies in its ability to create meaning that is in conflict with the literal meaning—thus altering our understanding of it and by doing so enhancing cognition, mediating emotions, or shaping social relationships.
... Less common, but occasionally done in management research, is when participants are asked to engage in a creative thinking task such as a remote association thinking task, a divergent thinking task, or the Dunker candle problem (Duncker, 1945). Participants for the experimental studies that were contained in our five-year review were most often recruited either through panels such as Amazon's Mechanical Turk or Qualtrics (Huang et al., 2015;Jung & Lee, 2015) or by using college students (Brown & Baer, 2015;Perry-Smith, 2014). The experimental studies found in our five-year study were predominantly conducted in the United States. ...
... Theoretically, these have been identified as predictors of individual creativity (Amabile, 1996), and at times classified as creativity traits (Eysenck, 1996). Yet in our review of creativity studies in management journals over the last five years we identified multiple studies that assessed individual creativity through creative-thinking tasks, such as divergent thinking tasks and remote association thinking tasks (Huang et al., 2015;Jung & Lee, 2015;Lu et al., 2017). Hence, according to the measurement of creativity, there is still some discrepancy regarding whether creative-thinking tasks represent creative potential or actual creativity. ...
... Previous research on humor provides some support for the potential positive effects of using humor in negative events. Humor, which refers to "a stimulus that elicits laughter and amusement" (Warren, Barsky, and McGraw 2018), is linked to many desirable outcomes, such as decreasing anxiety (Berk et al. 2001), enhancing well-being (Wellenzohn, Proyer, and Ruch 2018), improving impressions of the speaker (Huang, Gino, and Galinsky 2015), increasing advertising effectiveness (Gelb and Pickett 1983), and improving brand attitudes and purchase intentions (Gelb and Pickett 1983; see review by Eisend [2009]). The act of using humor (also known as comedy production) may elicit humor appreciation, a psychological response characterized by amusement, laughter, and perceived funniness (Warren, Barsky, and McGraw 2018). ...
... Dark sides of humor. Prior research reveals many positive sides of humor (e.g., Berk et al. 2001;Huang, Gino, and Galinsky 2015;Wellenzohn, Proyer, and Ruch 2018). The dark sides of humor receive relatively less attention. ...
The advent of social media has dramatically changed the way consumers communicate with others. How to communicate appropriately with mass audiences on social media has become an urgent topic in crisis communication. This article investigates the use of humor in crisis communication within a social media context. Across three studies using multisource data, the authors find that humorous responses to negative publicity can lead to more favorable consumer responses than nonhumorous responses do. This effect is moderated by the type (defensible vs. not defensible) of negative event. These findings have important implications both theoretically and managerially.
... Si a esto le sumamos la presencia ya anotada de la poliacroasis (Albaladejo, 2009), como alusión a las audiencias plurales, no nos queda más que apelar al cultivo de la confianza y la empatía como elementos cohesionadores de la comunidad discursiva para evitar que el humor/ironía escale en ofensa. De este modo, nos sintonizaríamos con Huang et al. (2015), quienes, al hurgar por los efectos del sarcasmo -peldaño más alto del humor y la ironía-, aseguran que la sensación de peligro que pueden experimentar sus receptores se reduce ostensiblemente si viene de una persona [ en quien confían: "The positive effect of expressing or receiving sarcastic (vs. sincere or neutral) remarks on perceptions of conflict will be reduced when individuals express the remarks to or receive the remarks from someone they trust" (p. ...
... Estos instrumentos, adelantados entre las muestras representativas poblacionales antes descritas, han arrojado resultados diversos que podríamos agrupar en cuatro frentes: a) el estudio de la ironía, el humor y sus conceptos afines como generadores de tensión/distensión en el aula de clase, a partir de los trabajos Huang et al. (2015); b) el comportamiento de la muestra analizada a la luz de las principales funciones de la ironía, según Alba-Juez (2002): evaluación, ataque verbal y diversión; c) el análisis de los efectos perlocutivos de la ironía en el aula de educación básica y media vocacional, en diálogo con las conclusiones que Torres-Hernández (2012) propuso para el contexto universitario; d) el bosquejo de algunas implicaciones didácticas y pedagógicas que puedan caldear la discusión con profesores en formación y en ejercicio, acerca del lugar, la función y los efectos de la ironía y el humor en el salón de clase. Gran parte de estos resultados han sido documentados en Cortés et al. (2021) y en avances como los de Caro-Lopera (2020, 2021b). ...
This reflection article analyzes the factors that can trigger the shift from humor/irony to offense in educational contexts. It is based on two historical-hermeneutical research projects that inquire, through semi-structured interviews, into the place of teacher irony and humor, as well as their perlocutionary effects on students. Within the framework of a pragmalinguistic perspective that defines irony as a rhetorical, socio-discursive, carnivalizing, pedagogical and didactic strategy, and humor as a type of non bona fide communication based on incongruity, this text explores seven factors that could explain that blurred line between laughter and offense, namely the construction of an empathic discursive community, the vigilance of an unleashed informativeness, the reading of horizons of expectations, respect for a sacred memory, the caution to preserve the private, and the intuition of a vital urgency overcome. Such factors converge in the need for an attitude of tact and prudence by the teacher who assumes the awareness of language and the principle of Kayrós in the face of the non bona fide condition of these socio-discursive phenomena. In summary, the reflection focuses on the difference between laughing with (humor/irony that achieves pedagogical-didactic effects in the classroom) and laughing at (unsuccessful phenomenon prone to offense and disrespect).
... When it provokes positive reactions, individuals perceive sarcastic insults as being funnier (Dews, Kaplan, and Winner 1995), more unexpected (Lagerwerf 2007), and more memorable (Gibbs 1986) than other types of communication. Sarcasm also attracts greater attention (Huang, Gino, and Galinsky 2015) and influences audiences more deeply than other types of negative responses (Peng et al. 2019). ...
... Our findings provide evidence that when brands reply to uncivil comments (made by dissatisfied consumers) using an assertive tone, this leads to a more favorable attitude toward the brand on the part of consumers than when they use a sarcastic tone (H 1 ). Although previous studies confirm that sarcasm may prompt positive reactions because it is humorous (Dews, Kaplan, and Winner 1995), unexpected (Lagerwerf 2007), memorable (Gibbs 1986), and attracts attention (Huang, Gino, and Galinsky 2015), assertiveness carries an educational tone (Hyers 2010), which fosters an atmosphere of learning and fruitful conversation, which can be positive when the cause being supported by the brand is still subject to debate in wider society. An assertive tone may also help brands to strengthen their argument in support of the controversial cause and promote an environment of civility among Internet users interacting with the brand. ...
Brands are increasingly embracing social activism and adopting positions on controversial issues, prompting some consumers to react by making uncivil comments on social media. How should brands reply to such incivility while maintaining their positions and protecting their reputations? Two common types of reply include either a sarcastic or an assertive tone, but the effects of these types of communication on consumers’ attitudes toward brands remain largely unexplored. Results from a series of five studies exploring different causes (LGBT+ phobia, sexism, and racial equity) show that consumers evaluate brands that reply using an assertive tone more favorably than those using a sarcastic tone, which can be partially explained by the perceived aggressiveness of sarcasm. Additionally, support for a brand's stance acts as a boundary condition on the effect the type of reply adopted by the brand has on consumer attitudes toward the brand. So, the more someone supports a brand's stance, the less their perception of aggressiveness will negatively influence their attitude to that brand. We discuss the implications of these findings for marketing theory and practice.
... Experts of interpersonal communication and group communication advise against the use of sarcasm due to the harm it may cause. However, people continue to use this type of verbal irony because it is more memorable than the usual direct communication that takes place (Huang et al., 2015). ...
The emergence of social media has facilitated the deconstruction of the negative image of Africa as portrayed by the Western media through an Afro-positive counter-narrative by Africans on various social media platforms. This article investigates the use of sarcasm on TikTok to address Africa's negative image. The qualitative study purposively samples 44 posts shared by @charityekezie on TikTok to identify the misconceived issues about Africa she addresses on her page and further explores the sarcasm expression practices that are present in the videos she shares. Document analysis and observation are employed to collect data for the study. The findings are discussed thematically through the lens of the echoic mention theory and the pretence theory of irony. The study's findings revealed that misconceptions about Africa concerning the continent lacking basic needs, infrastructure and transportation, English language proficiency,
communication technologies, clothing and beauty products are addressed by @charityekezie on her TikTok page. The findings further indicated that allusion to previous comments by other TikTok users, use of non-verbal cues and verbal communication were the sarcasm expression practices adopted by @charityekezie on her TikTok page. The study recommends that African social media content creators use their TikTok accounts to address positive images about the continent to the rest of the world. The study further concludes that the TikTok application and its affordances enable individuals to contribute to the deconstruction of the negative image of the African continent.
... It has thus been noticed that magistrates use, in the courtroom, in their interaction with litigants, a range of types of language strategies involving different types of humour -vernacular language, banter, colloquialisms, quips, sarcasm (Hobbs 2007, Ibrahim and Nambiar 2011, Malphurs 2010, Roach Anleau, Mack 2018. However, these strategies are lectured from a stylistic point of view, but most often pursue concrete goals that facilitate the work of judging (Huang et al. 2015). ...
An excellent opportunity for bringing to the scene the pragmatic parameters of communication and their
enormous judicial effect is the judgement DANILEŢ v. ROMANIA (application no. 16915/21), issued by the
European Court of Human Right (ECHR), regarding the freedom of expression - Article 10 of The European Human
Rights Convention. The most important argument to attentively look at this case is represented by the different
interpretative opinions generated since the beginning.
... The ability to produce metaphors and comprehend metaphorical and sarcastic language has been associated with working memory capacity (gwm), which can be defined as 'the ability to maintain and manipulate information in active attention' (Schneider and McGrew 2018, p. 97). Furthermore, exposure to sarcasm has been linked to abstract thinking (Huang et al. 2015), while a preference for engaging in challenging cognitive tasks has been connected to the ability to comprehend metaphors (Olkoniemi et al. 2016). Lastly, age and general background knowledge are significant predictors of comprehension of satire (Boukes et al. 2015;Pfaff et al. 1997;Simpson 2003). ...
The study aimed to investigate the allocation of figurative language comprehension (FLC) within the Cattell–Horn–Carroll (CHC) model of cognitive abilities, using three newly developed tests: the Reverse Paraphrase Test (RPT), the Literal Paraphrase Test (LPT), and the Proverb Test (PT). The analysis of a sample of 909 participants revealed that the RPT and LPT measured a unidimensional construct of FLC, while the PT was excluded due to insufficient fit. Combining RPT and LPT items, various models were evaluated, with a bifactor S-1 model showing the best fit, indicating the influence of a general factor (representing FLC) and test-specific method factors. The study explored FLC allocation within the CHC model, supporting its consideration as a distinct factor under the g factor. Examining the nomological network, significant correlations emerged between the Intellectual Curiosity and Aesthetic Sensitivity facets of Openness and FLC, which were comparable in size to the relation with general ability. In conclusion, the study enhances the understanding of FLC within the CHC model, advocating its recognition as a distinct factor. Correlations with Openness facets suggest valuable insights into the interplay between cognitive abilities and personality, necessitating further research for a deeper exploration of this relation.
... The main intention of the usage of sarcasm is to express a contradictory emotion than what is explicitly specified. Furthermore, it is noted that sarcasm, as an expression of humour, can be seen as an increase in creativity (Huang et al., 2015). Due to the implicit presence of sarcasm within the tweet's text content, the influence of sarcasm in the stress detection helps in maximising the utilisation of information from the text. ...
Psychological stress has evolved as an important health concern across the globe. The vulnerability to stress and the ramifications of it have only worsened during the time of the COVID‐19 pandemic. This necessitates a timely diagnosis of stress before the condition progresses to chronicity. In this context, the popularity of social media like Twitter, where large numbers of users share opinions without any social stigma, has emerged as a major resource of human opinions. This has led to an increased research interest in social media‐based stress detection techniques. However, tweet‐level stress detection techniques in the literature have left a void in leveraging the text information in tweets, especially the presence of sarcastic expressions in the tweet's text content. To this end, a novel method called “Sarcasm‐based Tweet‐Level Stress Detection” (STSD) is proposed in this work with the modification of the logistic loss function to detect tweet‐level stress by availing the information of sarcasm that exists in the tweet‐content. The principle of the STSD model is to minimize the loss for non‐sarcastic tweets while maximising the loss for sarcastic tweets. Furthermore, extensive preprocessing and dimensionality reduction are performed using kernel principal component analysis (kernel PCA) to improve the performance by reducing the dimensions. The experimental results show that the proposed STSD model, when applied along with kernel PCA, records a significant improvement in accuracy by a minimum of 5.25% and a maximum of 9.19% over baseline models. Also, there is an increment in F1‐score by at least 0.085 points and a maximum of 0.164 points when compared to the baseline models.
... With the presence of flaws and errors in the learning modules, the critics vent their frustrations regarding the ineffectiveness and inadequacy of DepEd in addressing the problems associated with each learning modality. This conflict serves as a catalyst for creativity (Huang et al., 2015;Rajadesingan et al., 2015). Consequently, the positive face of the hearer is threatened in the online comments, as criticism and sarcasm are directed toward the errors present in the modules. ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted the Philippines, along with other nations, to restructure its educational framework to meet the evolving needs and challenges of the time. Consequently, this reorganization has led to changes in the learning delivery modalities (LDMs). The Philippine Department of Education (DepEd) has faced significant criticism on social media regarding issues related to preparation, flawed materials, and implementation. By employing a pragmatic analysis approach based on Culpeper's theory of impoliteness strategies, this study examines fifty Facebook comments criticizing the said department and its new LDMs. The findings reveal that critics employed various impoliteness strategies, including bald-on-record impoliteness, positive impoliteness, negative impoliteness, off-record impoliteness, withhold politeness, and impoliteness meta-strategy. The study's outcomes suggest that analyzing impoliteness strategies in online comments can provide insights into how such remarks serve as social actions. Researchers working with these textual forms, as well as those specializing in the study of genres and languages, can benefit from the findings of this study. The implications of the findings are discussed for policymakers, educators, and students within the Philippine education system.
... Lunando & Purwarianti (2013) utilized lexical features for sarcasm detection. Huang et al. (2015) and Pickering et al. (2018) demonstrated a strong relationship between affect/sentiment features, such as sadness and happiness, and sarcasm. However, Joshi et al. (2016) and Riloff et al. (2013) proved that relying only on affect/sentiment features for sarcasm detection may not be effective in cases where there are no sentiment words in the sentence. ...
... Previous research has alternatively examined emotional complexity as expressed emotional ambivalence (the expression of tension and conflict; Rothman 2011, Rothman andNorthcraft 2015). Further, our focus on the interpersonal effects of emotional complexity implies that we are interested in the effects of leader nonverbal communication, which differs from research focused on leader verbal, nonaffective communication (e.g., sarcasm; Huang et al. 2015, psychological priming (e.g., paradoxical frames; Miron-Spektor, Gino, et al. 2011), or leadership styles (e.g., transformational or paradoxical leader behaviors; Eisenbeiss et al. 2008, Shao et al. 2019. ...
Moods and emotions are an important influence on creativity at work, and recent developments point to emotional complexity as a particularly relevant influence in this respect. We develop this line of research by shifting focus from emotional complexity as an intrapersonal influence to emotional complexity as an interpersonal influence between leader and subordinate. Specifically, we integrate the social-functional approach to emotions with theory on self-regulation to shed light on the effects of leader emotional complexity (LEC), operationalized as alternations between leader displays of happiness and anger, on follower creativity. Three studies, two video experiments (Studies 1 and 2) and a multisource experience sampling study (Study 3), revealed that, on one hand, LEC stimulated creativity by enhancing the cognitive flexibility of followers; on the other hand, LEC led to heightened self-regulatory resource depletion, which compromised follower creativity. Our results also showed that trait epistemic motivation strengthened the positive effects of LEC on creativity via cognitive flexibility, the negative effects via self-regulatory resource depletion were also stronger for followers with higher trait epistemic motivation. Combined, results suggest that leader displays of emotional complexity can be tiring but are even more inspiring.
Supplemental Material: The online appendices are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2019.13152 .
... c Those individuals who are more creative by nature (Furnham & Nederstrom, 2010) tend to be more creative at work and may also be more open to a breadth of activities and experiences (Madrid & Patterson, 2016), resulting in a spurious relationship between creativity, cognitive developmental resources, and personal life activity breadth. We consequently controlled for openness to experience (i.e., being imaginative and intellectually curious can lead people to seek varied experiences and be more original with their ideas in the workplace; Barrick & Mount, 1991) and used the remote association task to capture an individual's ability to retrieve and combine remote connections from many different experiences (Benedek et al., 2012;Huang et al., 2015;Li et al., 2015;Miron-Spektor et al., 2011). ...
People wear many salient hats across the different parts of their lives and recent advances in the work–life literature have called attention to the necessary addition of personal life activities to be studied as a unique facet of nonwork to better understand interrole relationships. We therefore draw on enrichment theory to examine why and when employees’ participation in personal life activities can positively influence creativity at work through nonwork cognitive developmental resources. Moreover, by integrating insights from construal level theory, this research sheds new light on the ways people think about their personal life activities as playing a discernible role in how people can generate and/or apply resources from their activities. Results of two multiwave studies revealed that people who tend to engage in a greater breadth of personal life activities can gain nonwork cognitive developmental resources (i.e., skills, knowledge, and perspectives) that, in turn, enhance their creativity at work. Personal life construal level also moderated the resource generation stage of enrichment, but not resource application to work; people who adopted lower construal level (i.e., more concretely: how they do activities) were more likely to generate cognitive developmental resources from their participation in personal life activities versus those with higher construal level (i.e., more abstractly: why they do activities). This research meets at the convergence of real-world trends on parallel “work” and “nonwork” sides of the interface as well as offers novel and nuanced theoretical insights into instrumental personal life-to-work enrichment processes which can benefit employees and organizations alike.
... When exposed to humorous cartoons rather than poems or no reading materials, participants were better at solving math problems (Ford et al., 2012). Similarly, when expressing or primed to express humor in the form of sarcasm, participants were better able to identify a meaningful connection among three unrelated stimuli (i.e. the remote association test) and were better at solving a cognitive problem (i.e. the Duncker candle problem; Huang et al., 2015). These studies point to cognitive flexibility as a benefit of mirth or producing humor. ...
Purpose
The purpose of the current study is to explain best practices for attempting humor in the workplace. Research on humor in the workplace has emphasized the use of leader humor but has neglected to provide guidance on how to successfully use humor. This is an important gap because unsuccessful humor attempts are associated with lowered status and disruptive behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper summarizes three types of humor theories (i.e. cognitive, social and contextual) and derives principles from these theories that can be applied to improve humor success. Then, the authors apply the understanding of humor to workplace applications, providing suggestions for future empirical research inferred from the humor theories.
Findings
Humor attempts are most likely to land (i.e. invoke mirth) when they include a benign violation of mental schemas, societal norms or other expectations or when humor evokes shared feelings of benign superiority in the audience. Humor is less effective in goal-directed situations. Mirth is expected to increase group cohesion, leader trust and organizational identification and mitigate the effects of job stressors. Finally, employee learning and development activities (e.g. onboarding, training) seem like a good place to use humor to facilitate cognitive flexibility.
Originality/value
These suggestions from across psychological disciplines are synthesized to inform best practices for leader humor.
... 52 Gibbs et al. 2014. 53 A negatív szarkasztikus humor elkerülésére figyelmeztetnek a pedagógiában, habár úgy tűnik, mivel absztrakt gondolkodást igényel, a szarkasztikus megjegyzéseknek jótékony hatása lehet a kreativitásra, annak ellenére, hogy kifejezője és fogadója számára egyaránt jelentős konfliktus forrása (lásd Huang et al. 2015). 54 Horváth 2016;Küllős 2006. ...
... Accordingly, we proposed that example abstraction in terms of example modality and generality may involve different levels of abstract thinking, which further affects creativity. Huang et al. (2015) summarized that abstract thinking can increase creativity by promoting diverse and novel ideas or leading to ideas that were not there before. It is possible that individuals exposed to abstract examples will produce ideas with higher fluency and flexibility. ...
... There is no way to become a competent speaker-writer and a true member of one's community without understanding and producing idioms, recognizing proverbs, sharing metaphors, and/or reacting to irony and sarcasm (Huang, Gino, & Galinsky, 2015). Telling jokes may also be a useful tool for social adaptation, although it, too, requires familiarity with the discourse and communal constraints that decide when, how, and with whom this can be practiced (Bitterly, Brooks, & Schweitzer, 2016). ...
The chapter provides an updated reappraisal of Ravid & Tolchinsky’s (2002) framework modeling linguistic literacy. The chapter suggests a re-elaboration of the model’s main constructs – rhetorical flexibility as an outcome of developing literacy, literacy as a domain of knowledge, and the developmental and representational status of literacy knowledge – in the light of the concerns that have impacted the domain of literacy during the last 20 years. The chapter concludes that from varied perspectives – theoretical, research-based, pedagogical, and sociopolitical – developing literacy en route to critical rhetorical flexibility is as timely as it was 20 years ago.KeywordsDeveloping literacyRhetorical flexibilityLinguistic variationPrinted and digital mediumEnabling factors
... The literal meaning of the text is the surface meaning of the context of the speaker. The non-literal or figurative meaning is the meaning that deviates from the literal meaning, and it can only be seen from the language used in that context; therefore, to identify the function of the figurative meaning is essential to understand the context behind the sarcasm used by the speaker (McArthur, 1992;Wijana & Rohmadi, 2017) The speaker uses literal positive meaning to communicate negative messages and vice versa (Huang, Gino, & Galinsky, 2015). McArthur (1992) argue that sarcasm is categorized as one of thirteen types of figurative language. ...
This study uncovers the types and functions of sarcastic expression used in the news of Disney Mulan Live-Action Movie by China Uncensored YouTube channel. The data used in this study is a transcript of the monologue videos taken from China Uncensored YouTube Channel with the title Mulan Backlash: Why Disney’s China Problem Just Got Worse, which was published on September 15, 2020, and has been watched by 426,000 people until October 30, 2020. This study analyzed the types and functions of the sarcastic expressions using Camp’s theory. The most frequently used sarcastic expression was proportional sarcasm with 45% out of 100%, illocutionary sarcasm 27%, lexical sarcasm 18% and the least used sarcasm is like-prefixed sarcasm, which was only 9%. Metaphor and irony appeared in the sarcastic expression of the speech to insult the Movie. The whole sarcastic expressions were used to change Disney’s goals and criticize social and cultural systems.
... Other studies indirectly argued that they share a common cognitive ground as evidenced by the facilitation effects which have been found to occur. Research has indicated that watching comedy films enhances the success rate in insight problem solving (Isen et al., 1987), being primed with humorous texts prompts greater accuracy in solving verbal insight problems as compared to priming with non-humorous texts (Zhou et al., 2021), making or hearing humorous sarcastic remarks (as opposed to sincere remarks) is associated with a higher probability of solving insight problems (Huang et al., 2015) and being humorous specifically improves people's insight problem solving performance (while no effect has been found in relation to other types of problems) (Korovkin & Nikiforova, 2015). ...
This study examines the cognitive and affective commonalities and differences between humour and insight problems, focusing on the reasons given by the participants to explain their preferences. For both cartoons (study 1) and insight problems (study 2), the participants gave more reasons for liking than disliking something and the motivations for liking versus disliking did not always correspond. Many overlaps emerged between cartoons and insight puzzles in the categories relating to Curiosity, Violation of expectation, Virtuosity, Happiness related to superficial aspects and to content type confirming an overall similarity between these two “pleasures of the mind”. They are nevertheless distinct in terms of certain aspects. For instance, the most common reason for liking a cartoon was that it elicited a sense of general happiness and Lack of surprise more often motivated dislike for a cartoon, whereas Lack of joy of verification was the main reason for disliking an insight puzzle.
This study investigates sarcastic utterances used in the novel series Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend. The novels consist of Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow (2017), Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow (2018), and Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow (2020). The data for the research were taken from the characters’ dialogues containing sarcastic utterances in the three novels. By applying the descriptive qualitative method, the research aims to classify sarcastic utterances using the theory proposed by Camp (2011): propositional sarcasm, illocutionary sarcasm, lexical sarcasm, and like-prefixed sarcasm. There are 75 data with the four types of sarcastic utterances, including propositional sarcasm (62.67%), illocutionary sarcasm (26.67%), lexical sarcasm (8%), and like-prefixed sarcasm (2.67%). The research also aims to identify negative emotions as triggers for each type of sarcastic utterance using the theory proposed by Vikan (2017): anger, disgust, contempt, sadness, fear, shame, and guilt. The novels contain these negative emotions, except guilt. The type of sarcastic utterance frequently used in the novels is propositional sarcasm. Meanwhile, like-prefixed sarcasm has the most minor occurrence compared to the others. Even though propositional sarcasm and illocutionary sarcasm contain several negative emotions as triggers, lexical sarcasm and like-prefixed sarcasm only have one each.
Purpose
While cyberloafing has emerged as a prevalent issue in numerous workplaces, research on its consequences is still underdeveloped, highlighting a need for further exploration and analysis. Drawing upon the cognitive appraisal theory of emotion, this study investigates the influence of coworkers' cyberloafing on employees' workplace incivility, mediated by negative emotions and moderated by task interdependence.
Design/methodology/approach
In Study 1, the hypothesized research model was tested utilizing three-wave time-lagged survey data collected from 333 employees and their coworkers. In Study 2, an additional sample of 274 employees was surveyed. Data were analyzed using hierarchical regression analysis and the bootstrap method.
Findings
The results indicated that coworkers' cyberloafing positively influenced employees' workplace incivility, with this relationship mediated by negative emotions. Additionally, task interdependence was found to positively moderate both the direct relationship between coworkers' cyberloafing and negative emotions and the indirect path from coworkers' cyberloafing to employees' workplace incivility through negative emotions.
Practical implications
This study helps managers gain a deeper understanding of cyberloafing's effects, enabling them to manage and curb it more effectively.
Originality/value
Prior research has predominantly explored the effects of cyberloafing on its implementers. However, this study innovatively shifts focus to the observer perspective, empirically demonstrating whether and how coworkers' cyberloafing affects employees' workplace incivility, enriching and expanding the existing literature.
Many researchers have drawn on the term “cognitive flexibility” to denote the explanatory mechanism underlying a broad array of organizational theories. However, conceptualization (and operationalization) of this construct is inconsistent, and sometimes conflates with that of other constructs, thereby weakening our understanding of cognitive flexibility and muddling the theories that rest on it. To bring clarity, we conduct a comprehensive search of cognitive flexibility constructs, strip away their labels, and use text analysis and manual coding of their descriptions to distinguish among five fluid thought processes: (1) elaborating, (2) dimensionalizing, (3) integrating, (4) juxtaposing, and (5) matching. We further group these processes into three higher-order categories involving the reshaping, contending, and shifting of cognitive structures—and conduct a literature review of their consequences and antecedents. Our surveying demonstrates that these processes’ substance and implications differ markedly. As such, we argue that cognitive flexibility may be more appropriately viewed as a multifaceted, rather than monolithic, construct. We discuss how a multifaceted approach helps bring clarity to implicated organizational theories—and opens up exciting questions about the transferability, antagonism, and trainability of cognitive flexibility’s distinct facets.
Humor is a fundamental managerial tool that can help managers communicate, build trust, and promote cooperation. Humor, however, is complex, and humor scholarship has identified both benefits and risks of using humor for leaders, employees, and organizations. Although humor is both pervasive and impactful in organizations, humor scholarship is vastly under-represented relative to its managerial relevance and impact in leading management journals. In this review, we build on scholarship in the psychology, communication, and management literatures to define humor, introduce a framework and nomenclature for studying humor, and distinguish organizational humor from social humor. We identify open questions worthy of scholarly attention and barriers that have likely limited the publication of humor scholarship in management journals. We conclude with a call to action to guide future research in organizational humor.
As verbal irony, including jocular irony, is common in many cultures and since language learners have difficulty with it in the target language, L2 educators have made efforts to help learners recognize irony. However, empirical research on using verbal irony online is lacking. Using a pre- posttest, control group design, this study aimed to fill the research gap by examining the efficacy of instruction on the ability of L2 learners to use verbal irony effectively (e.g., saliently, humorously) in response to social media posts. Japanese learners of English (N = 77) were involved. The instruction focused on sociopragmatics (e.g., appropriate usage) and pragmalinguistic aspects (e.g., non-verbal irony cues). Two instruments of 42 mock social media posts each were created (e.g., “My boss just yelled at me even though it was HIS fault.”), and the participants were asked to choose 12 of these to respond ironically to. Two independent raters judged all 1,848 blinded responses for their overall quality. The irony types and cues were also coded by researchers. The findings suggested that the experimental group significantly improved their ability to use verbal irony appropriately and saliently. Compared to the control group, in the posttest they more often used irony in more appropriate contexts (e.g., in response to funny posts as opposed to saddening news). Moreover, they used more irony cues, and their irony was more often rated as funny in the posttest. Implications for teachers and researchers are discussed.
Based on the interactionist perspective of organizational creativity, conservation of resource theory and social exchange theory, this study finds out the contextual factors from the social context of the organizations that affect the creativity of an employee. Data from the 443 engineers of software houses in Pakistan is collected through questionnaires. SPSS version 25 is used for demographics, internal reliability and mediation through Hayes macro process. AMOS26 is used for internal consistency, convergent validity and discriminant validity. Hayes macro process model 4 is used for mediation analysis. Findings have confirmed that abusive supervision is one of the major reasons behind the decrease in employee creativity. Employee silence partially mediates their relationship as the relationship between abusive supervision and employee creativity still remains significant. The mediating role of employee silence in the relationship between abusive supervision and employee creativity is an important novelty of this study. Several future directions about partial mediation, measuring scales and malevolent creativity are discussed in the future directions section of the study.
This study investigates the use of indirect communication strategies within an educational institution in Jakarta, Indonesia, focusing on discussing their significance in achieving communication objectives within professional contexts. The primary emphasis is on how these indirect communication strategies are applied to cultivate supportive relationships and create a favourable professional environment within educational settings. The following research questions guide the ethnographic study: 1) How are indirect communication strategies employed in educational organisations? and 2) What factors influence the adoption of these communication strategies? This research utilised four data collection methods: participant observation, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and document analysis. Participants in this study included school principals, vice-principals, teachers, support staff, students, and parents from a state primary school in Jakarta, Indonesia. The study's findings reveal that indirect communication strategies are predominantly employed to achieve various communication objectives, such as conveying humour, expressing frustration, delivering implied messages, seeking assistance, and expressing uncertainty. These strategies are deeply rooted in the cultural context, particularly influenced by Betawi culture, which strongly emphasises preserving social harmony and promoting respectful interactions. Several influential factors, including shared cultural values, power dynamics, and age, were identified as elements affecting the adoption of these indirect communication strategies.
From job candidates to entrepreneurs, people often face an inherent tension between the need to share personal accomplishments and the need to avoid appearing arrogant. We propose that humorbragging—incorporating self-enhancing humor into self-promoting communications—can signal warmth and competence simultaneously, leading to instrumental benefits. Four studies explored humorbragging as a potential solution to the self-promotion paradox. Study 1 demonstrated that a humorbragging (vs. self-promoting) resume attracted more hiring interest from recruiters. Study 2 showed that perceived warmth and competence mediate the positive effect of humorbragging on hiring intentions. Study 3 found that humorbragging entrepreneurs achieved greater success securing funding compared to entrepreneurs who used other kinds of humor. Finally, Studies 4a to 4c established that the positive effect of humorbragging on hiring intentions is unique to self-enhancing humor. Overall, the current research establishes the instrumental benefits of humorbragging and explains why and when it functions as an effective impression management strategy.
Humour is an integral part of human interactions, but it is not clear how it contributes to creativity in innovation. This paper provides new insights into the emerging literature about the impact of humour on creativity in innovation by conceptualizing humour as a situation‐specific state and using a mixed methods research design to investigate the use and impact of humour in two specific innovation contexts: idea generation by customers and collaboration in innovation teams. Our research makes four important contributions. (1) It suggests and demonstrates the relevance of a situation‐specific humorous mood. (2) It distinguishes between natural and instrumental humour and emphasizes that a purposely induced humorous mood can enhance creativity. (3) It shows that the impact of humour is not limited to a firm's individual employees but can also include external actors, such as customers and interactions between members of innovation teams. (4) It identifies the key drivers and effects of humorous mood in innovation. The findings from two empirical studies are integrated into a framework that captures the key concepts and relationships and that is also used to derive several directions for further research to better understand the effects of humour on creativity in the context of innovation.
سعت هذه الدراسة إلى رصد خطاب الكراهية الذي ينتجه مشجعو الأندية الرياضية العربية على مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي؛ حيث اعتمد الباحث على أداة تحليل المضمون لتحليل 41505 تعليق تمَّ نشرها على الصفحة الرسمية للنادي الأهلي المصري على موقع فيسبوك حول نهائي دوري أبطال أفريقيا عام 2018، بين فريق النادي الأهلي المصري، وفريق نادي الترجي التونسي. واعتمدت الدراسة على نموذج عدم التأدب الذي وضعه Culpeper Jonathan عام 1996. وأوضحت نتائج الدراسة انتشار خطاب الكراهية بين مشجعي الأندية الرياضية العربية؛ حيث ظهر هذا الخطاب فيما يقرب من نصف التعليقات الخاضعة للتحليل، كما كشفت النتائج عن عدم اقتصار خطاب الكراهية على الإطار المرجعي الرياضي فقط؛ وإنما شمل الإطار المرجعي الاجتماعي والسياسي والديني والتاريخي، كما أوضحت النتائج أن الذكور أكثر استخداماً لخطاب الكراهية عبر مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي مقارنة بالإناث، ووجود تأثير لإخفاء هوية المستخدم في إنتاج خطاب الكراهية عبر مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي.
: This study sought to monitor the hate speech among Arab sports fans on social media. The researcher relied on content analysis to analyze 41505 comments that were published on the Egyptian Al-Ahly Club page on Facebook about the 2018 African Champions League final between Al-Ahly and the Tunisian Esperance team. The study relied on Jonathan Culpeper's impoliteness model (1996). The results showed the spread of hate speech among Arab sports fans on social media; where hate speech appeared in nearly half of the comments subject to the analysis. The results also revealed that hate speech was not limited to the sports reference frame only; rather, it also included the social, political, religious, and historical reference frames. The results showed that males use hate speech more than females, and that anonymity is an influential factor in producing impolite speech through social media.
Purpose
Technology-enabled communication used in workplace settings includes nuanced tools such as emojis, that are interpreted differently by different populations of people. This paper aims to evaluate the use of emojis in work environments, particularly when they are used sarcastically.
Design/methodology/approach
This research uses a survey method administered on MTurk. Overall, 200 participants were included in the analysis. Items were contextualized from prior research and offered on a seven-point Likert scale.
Findings
Females are better able to understand if an emoji is used sarcastically. Additionally, older employees are more capable of interpreting sarcasm than younger employees. Finally, understanding of emojis has a negative relationship with frustration, indicating that when users understand emojis are being used sarcastically, frustration is reduced.
Research limitations/implications
This research is primarily limited by the survey methodology. Despite this, it provides implications for theory of mind and practical understanding of emoji use in professional settings. This research indicates emojis are often misinterpreted in professional settings.
Originality/value
The use of emojis is becoming commonplace. The authors show the use of emojis in a professional setting creates confusion, and in some instances can lead to frustration. This work can help businesses understand how best to manage employees with changing communication tools.
Action Identification Theory (Act ID) refers to the traits and mental processes behind how people think about and describe actions in more concrete terms, called Lower-Level Action Identities, or more abstract terms, called Higher-Level Action Identities. Optimal Act ID use is associated with a variety of communicational and conversational goals and outcomes, and is deeply embedded in the structure of human language. ChatGPT is a Large Large Model (LLM)-driven Conversational AI Chatbot, trained on patterns of language and conversational dynamics, including actions and descriptions of actions at different levels of concreteness and abstraction. ChatGPT is therefore a suitable subject for novel forms of Act ID research. Across 3 pre-registered studies, the Behavior Identification Form was used to assess: 1) ChatGPT’s ability to Apply Act ID (Study 1); To measure its default Act ID level (Study 2); and to evaluate its susceptibility to priming-like effects (Study 3). Results revealed that ChatGPT: 1) Can learn and apply Act ID (r = 1.0, p < .000); 2) Displays a high-level default Act ID (M = 20.72, SD = .79); and 3) Can be experimentally induced to select more or fewer lower- or higher-level identities via simple tasks inspired by human research. These findings hold significant implications for optimal human-AI interactions, raise critical questions about the intelligence and safety of these virtual agents, help further our understanding of how Psychological theories and models can improve the study and development of these applications, and may contribute to the broader study of the human mind and consciousness.
Fast fashion is the manufacture and distribution of clothing designs that constantly change to stay in trend with celebrities' current goings and comings. It is usually the process of shifting clothes from fashion runway shows and catwalks to standard or luxury clothing outlets in weeks, if not days. When it first entered the market, fast fashion and the industry seemed like a utopian umbrella full of glitz, glamour and galore. However, the following years of careful analysis and contemplation unearthed a darker reality, that of inhumane working conditions, toeing the ethical boundaries daily. Through this research paper, we aim to study past and present fast fashion trends and see the effects of three essential factors on its production levels: supply chain management, digital marketing and the ethics concerned with the fast fashion industry especially in the post pandemic scenario. We considered many key stakeholders - primarily the GenZ population and their opinions, and extensive secondary data. Through our research, we aim to understand fast fashion and everything about its success and eventual future.
Extant research has identified various effects of leader humor on subordinates and work groups. In contrast, less research has explored the influence of leader humor on leaders themselves and leaders’ subsequent behaviors. To address these issues, we drew from ego depletion theory and investigated when and how leader humor impacted leader workplace deviance. We argued that leader humor along with high impression management motive would bring increased ego depletion to leaders themselves and ultimately result in more leader workplace deviance. We tested our theoretical model using a three-wave time-lagged field survey data collected from 103 leaders and 595 subordinates, as well as an experiment involving 487 leader participants, which provided overall support for our hypotheses. Our findings revealed the possible dark side of leader humor influencing both leaders themselves and organizations. Theoretical contributions and new avenues for future research are addressed.
Modern social and commercial advertising systems devote a huge significance to the choice of the language used in various campaigns with the purpose to achieve maximum effectiveness of impact on the target audience. The current paper aims to uncover the pragmalinguistic peculiarities of language usage in attaining the above-mentioned goal through sarcasm. Linguistic and extra-linguistic levels of analysis serve as key components for detecting the sarcastic nature of the language used in social and commercial advertisements as well as their impact on conveying the non-literal meaning of the text. In the discussed samples of advertising discourse, sarcasm is demonstrated as a creative and effective form of communication in terms of delivering the intended message of the campaign. This notion greatly contradicts the traditional view toward the usage of ironic language, particularly sarcasm, since it is believed to provoke bitter and caustic effects.
Given its great benefits for individuals, organizations, and societies, creativity has received increasing attention from scholars. However, recent research has provided some initial empirical evidence that creativity has a potential dark side in organizations, such as triggering unethical behavior. At the same time, another stream of research focusing on the antecedents of creativity has revealed that individuals' (un)ethical behavior could influence creativity in intrapersonal and interpersonal ways. To build a useful framework to describe the relationship between creativity and (un)ethical behavior, this chapter reviews and divides the relevant literature into four categories. Specifically, we organize existing studies by considering two dimensions: the causality of creativity and (un)ethical behavior (i.e., the effects of creativity on [un]ethical behavior vs. the effects of [un]ethical behavior on creativity), and the perspective adopted by the research (i.e., intrapersonal vs. interpersonal perspective). Finally, we conclude by discussing promising directions for future research.
This study examines the influence of affiliative and aggressive humor climate levels and variability of humor climates on customer purchase, and the mediating effect of customer perceptions of service quality on such relationships. Sixty-seven store managers assessed 615 employees’ use of humor, while 3533 customers were surveyed to assess the quality of service received and their purchase behavior. Results show that a high affiliative humor climate was associated with a decrease in customer perceptions of service quality when variability in this humor usage was low in stores. Furthermore, high usage of aggressive humor was associated with a decrease in customer purchase.
The allusional pretense theory claims that ironic remarks have their effects by alluding to a failed expectation. In normal conversation, this is accomplished by violating pragmatic rules of discourse, usually the maxim of sincerity. Such violations simultaneously draw a listener's attention to the failed expectation and express the speaker's attitude (normally but not necessarily negative) toward the failed expectation. Using a variety of utterance types, 3 experiments tested the theory. The first experiment, using 4 speech act types, showed that both insincerity and allusion were perceived far more frequently in ironically intended utterances than in literally intended ones. The second experiment demonstrated that the negative attitudes frequently expressed with ironic utterances are a function of the relative frequency of positive versus negative expectations and not an intrinsic characteristic of discourse irony per se. The third experiment found that over-polite requests are more likely to be used ironically than under-polite ones, presumably because the former can serve a speaker's politeness considerations while simultaneously conveying both an intended request and the speaker's attitude. It was concluded that irony is used primarily to express a speaker's attitude toward the referent of the ironic utterance, while simultaneously fulfilling other goals as well, such as to be humorous, to make a situation less face threatening, and to serve politeness considerations.
This study adopted an interactional approach to understanding how 2 of the Five-Factor traits, openness to experience and conscientiousness, are related to creative behavior in the workplace. Openness to experience is theorized to result in high levels of creative behavior and conscientiousness is theorized to result in low levels of creative behavior when the situation allows for the manifestation of the trait influences. More specifically, the authors hypothesized that openness to experience would result in high levels of creative behavior if feedback valence were positive and job holders were presented with a heuristic task that allowed them to be creative. The authors also hypothesized that conscientiousness would result in low levels of creative behavior if supervisors engaged in close monitoring and coworkers were unsupportive. The authors tested their hypotheses in a sample of office workers, and 5 out of the 6 hypotheses were supported.
Four experiments indicated that positive affect, induced by means of seeing a few minutes of a comedy film or by means of receiving a small bag of candy, improved performance on two tasks that are generally regarded as requiring creative ingenuity: Duncker's (1945) candle task and M. T. Mednick, S. A. Mednick, and E. V. Mednick's (1964) Remote Associates Test. One condition in which negative affect was induced and two in which subjects engaged in physical exercise (intended to represent affectless arousal) failed to produce comparable improvements in creative performance. The influence of positive affect on creativity was discussed in terms of a broader theory of the impact of positive affect on cognitive organization.
Explored how psychological distance influences moral judgment and found that more extreme moral appraisals were given to distal behaviors rather than proximal behaviors. Contrary to Eyal et al., the current paper presents converging evidence showing that moral judgments become more extreme at lowerlevel construals compared to higher-level construals. In four experiments using two different priming techniques, we manipulated construal levels and assessed their effects on moral judgment. High-level consturals elicited less moral outrage toward transgressions and less positive ratings of virtuous behaviors than low-level construals. A replication study was also conducted to reconcile the inconsistencies between the current results and those of Eyal et al. Possible explanations for the different results between two studies are discussed.
The leader-member exchange (LMX) literature is reviewed using meta-analysis. Relationships between LMX and its correlates are examined, as are issues related to the LMX construct, including measurement and leader-member agreement. Results suggest significant relationships between LMX and job performance, satisfaction with supervision, overall satisfaction, commitment, role conflict, role clarity, member competence, and turnover intentions. The relationship between LMX and actual turnover was not significant. Leader and member LMX perceptions were only moderately related. Partial support was found for measurement instrument and perspective (i.e., leader vs. member) as moderators of the relationships between LMX and its correlates. Meta-analysis showed that the LMX7 (7-item LMX) measure has the soundest psychometric properties of all instruments and that LMX is congruent with numerous empirical relationships associated with transformational leadership.
In the context of texts that depicted either a minimally confrontational conversation (study 1) or a more confrontational argument (study 2) with a close friend, the use of ironic criticism was rated as being more humorous, polite, and positive, yet also as more sarcastic and mocking than direct criticism. Although our results were consistent with those reported previously, the results of both studies did not support two theoretical explanations of the function ironic criticism. We were unable to demonstrate that participant interpretation of ironic criticism was significantly influenced by the magnitude of the contrast created between criticism and the context in which the criticism is embedded, or by the focus of attention to either speaker's intent or the impression. Two novel findings emerged. First, ironic expression (but not direct expression) caused failed expectations targeted by criticism to appear less negative. Second, we found greater concordance between ratings of speaker intention and social impression for ratings of ironic expression than for directly expressed criticism.
The present research suggests that people adjust their mental response scales to an object's distance and construal level. People make use of wider response categories when they judge distant and abstract as compared with close and concrete stimuli. Across five experiments, participants worked on visual and verbal estimation problems (e.g., length or quantity judgments). Answers were provided in interval format, and differences between minimal and maximal estimates served as a measure of response category width. When target objects were framed as spatially distant rather than close (Studies 1 and 3), as unlikely rather than likely (Study 2), and as abstract rather than concrete (Study 4), category widths increased. Similarly, priming a high-level rather than a low-level mindset yielded wider interval estimates (Study 5). The general discussion highlights the usefulness of category width as a basic measure of construal level and as a theoretical link between various branches of construal-level theory.
The ability of humans to display bodily expressions that contradict mental states is an important developmental adaptation. The authors propose that mind–body dissonance, which occurs when bodily displayed expressions contradict mentally experienced states, signals that the environment is unusual and that boundaries of cognitive categories should be expanded to embrace atypical exemplars. Four experiments found that mind–body dissonance increases a sense of incoherence and leads to category expansion. Recalling a happy memory while frowning or a sad event while smiling, listening to sad music while smiling or happy music while frowning, and assuming an expansive posture while being in a low-power role or a constricted posture while being in a high-power role all led to higher category inclusiveness compared to when the body and mind were coherent. The ability to display bodily expressions that contradict mental states may be an important foundation for the capacity of humans to embrace atypical ideas.
This paper reports data on the reliability and ex ternal validity of the Construct Role Repertory Test (Rep Test). Results show that test scores were moderately internally consistent; scores exhibited significant correlations with other forms of cogni tive functioning, including American College Test ing scores in science and mathematics. Based on these results, suggestions for future users of the in strument are presented in the context of test modi fication. Use within physical processing environ ments, in addition to the usual social environments, is also advocated.
In a longitudinal study, we found that higher group performance was associated with a particular pattern of conflict. Teams performing well were characterized by low but increasing levels of process conflict, low levels of relationship conflict, with a rise near project deadlines, and moderate levels of task conflict at the midpoint of group interaction. The members of teams with this ideal conflict profile had similar pre-established value systems, high levels of trust and respect, and open discussion norms around conflict during the middle stages of their interaction.
Although research on trust in an organizational context has advanced considerably in recent years, the literature has yet to produce a set of generalizable propositions that inform our understanding of the organization and coordination of work. We propose that conceptualizing trust as an organizing principle is a powerful way of integrating the diverse trust literature and distilling generalizable implications for how trust affects organizing. We develop the notion of trust as an organizing principle by specifying structuring and mobilizing as two sets of causal pathways through which trust influences several important properties of organizations. We further describe specific mechanisms within structuring and mobilizing that influence interaction patterns and organizational processes. The principal aim of the framework is to advance the literature by connecting the psychological and sociological micro-foundations of trust with the macro-bases of organizing. The paper concludes by demonstrating how the framework can be applied to yield novel insights into traditional views of organizations and to stimulate original and innovative avenues of organizational research that consider both the benefits and downsides of trust.
What is creativity? What is intelligence? And how do conceptions of them vary across cultures? This chapter considers cultural implications of the nature of creativity and intelligence and focuses particularly on the things parents and teachers can do to develop creativity in all cultural settings.
From a psychological perspective, humor is essentially a positive emotion called mirth, which is typically elicited in social contexts by a cognitive appraisal process involving the perception of playful, nonserious incongruity, and which is expressed by the facial and vocal behavior of laughter. In social interactions, humor takes on many different forms, including canned jokes, spontaneous witticisms, and unintentionally funny utterances and actions. Psychological functions of humor include the cognitive and social benefits of the positive emotion of mirth, and its uses as a mode of social communication and influence, and as a way of relieving tension, regulating emotions, and coping with stress. Popular conceptions of laughter have changed dramatically over the past two or three centuries, from being viewed as essentially aggressive and somewhat socially inappropriate to being seen as positive, psychologically, and physically healthy, and socially desirable. The meaning of the word humor has also evolved from a narrow focus on benign and sympathetic sources of mirth distinguished from more aggressive types of wit, to its use as a broad umbrella term to refer to all sources of laughter. Although humor has important psychological functions and touches on all branches of psychology, and there is a sizable and growing research literature on the topic, mainstream psychology has paid relatively little attention to it until now.
Research on humor is carried out in a number of areas in psychology, including the cognitive (What makes something funny?), developmental (when do we develop a sense of humor?), and social (how is humor used in social interactions?) Although there is enough interest in the area to have spawned several societies, the literature is dispersed in a number of primary journals, with little in the way of integration of the material into a book. Dr. Martin is one of the best known researchers in the area, and his research goes across subdisciplines in psychology to be of wide appeal. This is a singly authored monograph that provides in one source, a summary of information researchers might wish to know about research into the psychology of humor. The material is scholarly, but the presentation of the material is suitable for people unfamiliar with the subject-making the book suitable for use for advanced undergraduate and graduate level courses on the psychology of humor-which have not had a textbook source.
Emotional ambivalence, or the simultaneous experience of positive and negative emotions, is an underexplored emotional state in organizations. The results from two laboratory experiments demonstrate that individuals experiencing emotional ambivalence are better at recognizing unusual relationships between concepts, therefore showing an ability believed to be important to organizational creativity. Informational theories of emotion suggest that individuals interpret emotional ambivalence, which is perceived to be an unusual emotional experience, as signaling they are in an unusual environment, which in turn increases sensitivity to unusual associations. These results yield important implications regarding how to influence creative performance at work.
Three benefits of humor in the workplace are explored: its promotion of health, mental flexibility, and smooth social relations.
In this article we develop a theoretical framework for understanding creativity in complex social settings. We define organizational creativity as the creation of a valuable, useful new product, service, idea, procedure, or process by individuals working together in a complex social system. The starting point for our theoretical development is provided by the interactionist model of creative behavior developed by Woodman and Schoenfeldt (1989). This model and supporting literature on creative behavior and organizational innovation are used to develop an interactional framework for organizational creativity. The theoretical framework is summarized by three propositions that can effectively guide the development of testable hypotheses.
This essay describes differences between papers that contain some theory rather than no theory. There is little agreement about what constitutes strong versus weak theory in the social sciences, but there is more consensus that references, data, variables, diagrams, and hypotheses are not theory. Despite this consensus, however, authors routinely use these five elements in lieu of theory. We explain how each of these five elements can be confused with theory and how to avoid such confusion. By making this consensus explicit, we hope to help authors avoid some of the most common and easily averted problems that lead readers to view papers as having inadequate theory. We then discuss how journals might facilitate the publication of stronger theory. We suggest that if the field is serious about producing stronger theory, journals need to reconsider their empirical requirements. We argue that journals ought to be more receptive to papers that test part rather than all of a theory and use illustrative rather than definitive data.
What is the nature of the extremely negative attitudes expressed by so many employees toward their organizations? To respond to this question, we introduce the concept of organizational cynicism. We review the literature from several disciplines on this concept and suggest that organizational cynicism is an attitude composed of beliefs, affect, and behavioral tendencies toward an organization. Following our review and conceptualization, we derive implications of this concept and propose a research agenda for organizational cynicism.
This study examines how trust, connectivity and thriving drive employees' innovative behaviors in the workplace. Using a sample of one hundred and seventy two employees across a variety of jobs and industries, we investigated the relationship between trust, connectivity (both measured at Time 1), thriving and innovative work behaviors (both measured at Time 2). Trust and connectivity were hypothesized to create a nurturing environment that enables people to thrive and be innovative in their work. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) indicate a sequential mediation model in which connectivity mediates the relationship between trust and thriving, and thriving mediates the relationship between connectivity and innovative behaviors. The theoretical and practical implications for employee thriving and innovative behaviors at work are discussed.
Abstract In recent years, an increasingly large body of research has examined the common situation in which one thing is said in order to express another. Although research has examined the understanding of figurative language such as metaphor in some depth, sarcasm has been less studied. Understanding sarcasm requires considering social and cultural factors, which are often ignored in models of language. We report diverse experiments that point to the same conclusions: Sarcastic interpretation occurs early in processing, with gender and social-cultural factors associated with class playing an important role. These data support interactive models of nonliteral language processing, in which social and cultural factors serve as early-acting constraints on interpretation.
To study productive thinking where it is most conspicuous in great achievements is certainly a temptation, and without a doubt, important information about the genesis of productive thought could be found in biographical material. A problem arises when a living creature has a goal but does not know how this goal is to be reached. Whenever one cannot go from the given situation to the desired situation simply by action, then there has to be recourse to thinking. The subjects ( S s), who were mostly students of universities or of colleges, were given various thinking problems, with the request that they think aloud. This instruction, "Think aloud", is not identical with the instruction to introspect which has been common in experiments on thought-processes. While the introspecter makes himself as thinking the object of his attention, the subject who is thinking aloud remains immediately directed to the problem, so to speak allowing his activity to become verbal. It is the shift of function of the components of a complex mathematical pattern—a shift which must so often occur if a certain structure is to be recognized in a given pattern—it is this restructuration, more precisely: this transformation of function within a system, which causes more or less difficulty for thinking, as one individual or another tries to find a mathematical proof.
We propose that dishonest and creative behavior have something in common: They both involve breaking rules. Because of this shared feature, creativity may lead to dishonesty (as shown in prior work), and dishonesty may lead to creativity (the hypothesis we tested in this research). In five experiments, participants had the opportunity to behave dishonestly by overreporting their performance on various tasks. They then completed one or more tasks designed to measure creativity. Those who cheated were subsequently more creative than noncheaters, even when we accounted for individual differences in their creative ability (Experiment 1). Using random assignment, we confirmed that acting dishonestly leads to greater creativity in subsequent tasks (Experiments 2 and 3). The link between dishonesty and creativity is explained by a heightened feeling of being unconstrained by rules, as indicated by both mediation (Experiment 4) and moderation (Experiment 5).
In this article, we examine the discourse goals that are accomplished by the use of eight forms of figurative language: hyperbole, idiom, indirect request, irony, understatement, metaphor, rhetorical question, and simile. Subjects were asked to provide reasons why they would use a particular figure of speech. Based on their responses, a discourse goal taxonomy that includes each of the eight figures was developed. The goal taxonomy indicates that each figure of speech is used to accomplish a unique constellation of communicative goals. The degree of goal overlap between the eight forms was also calculated, and the results provide support for theoretical claims about the relatedness of certain figures. Taken together, the goal taxonomy and overlap scores broaden our understanding of functional and theoretical differences between the various kinds of figurative language.
We analyze the intertwinings of jocular and sarcastic transactions with solidary and authority relationships to demonstrate both how those transactions are contextualized by extant relationships and how they modify and affirm relationships. Jocularity is most commonly contextualized by solidary relationships and in turn invites or affirms solidary relationships. Sarcasm may be contextualized by either a solidary or authority relationship. Sarcastic transactions are commonly produced to comment on actions regarded as violations of extant relationships. We conclude that jocularity and sarcasm are significant forms of social action that are routinely used by people with robust relationships to affirm and modify social relationships.
In three experiments, we investigated the social payoffs of speaking ironically. In Experiment 1, participants rated videotaped ironic remarks (criticisms and compliments) as funnier than literal remarks, but no more or less status enhancing. In Experiment 2, participants listened to audiotaped ironic criticisms and compliments. Ironic compliments were rated as more insulting than literal compliments, but ironic criticisms were found to be less insulting than literal criticisms. In Experiment 3, participants read literal or ironic criticisms. Ironic comments were rated as more amusing than literal ones. When irony was directed at the addressee's poor performance, it served to protect the addressee's face by softening the criticism. When irony was directed at the addressee's offensive behavior, it served to protect the speaker's face by showing the speaker as less angry and more in control. In addition, irony damaged the speaker—addressee relationship less than did literal criticism. Taken together, these studies suggest that speakers choose irony over literal language in order to be funny, to soften the edge of an insult, to show themselves to be in control of their emotions, and to avoid damaging their relationship with the addressee.
Recent investigations of the pragmatic functions of ironic criticism (e.g., saying “Nice shot” to condemn a fellow player for missing a free throw and losing a basketball game) have argued that ironic criticism is used to dilute condemnation. Dews and Winner (1995) and Dews, Kaplan, and Winner (1995) showed that, relative to literal criticism (e.g., Terrible shot”), ironic criticism expresses less condemnation. This article reports the results of four experiments to show that ironic criticism in many cases is used for just the opposite reason—to enhance rather than to dilute condemnation. These findings have significant implications for both pragmatic and processing theories of verbal irony.
We report the findings of 3 studies looking at people's emotional reactions to different kinds of ironic language (e.g., irony, sarcasm, overstatement, understatement, satire, rhetorical questions, and nonironic statements). The first experiment instructed the participants to rate their own emotional reaction, the second to rate the emotional state of the speaker, and the third to rate how the participants thought the speaker wished them to feel. The choice of a statement predictably affected addressees' emotions, especially when participants read irony, rhetorical questions, understatement, and nonironic statements. With sarcasm and satire, speakers may reveal their own emotions with little intention to affect addressees' emotions, and overstatements had a negative effect that speakers did not intend. Finally, detailed patterns show how, when, and which emotions are influenced by the various types of irony.
Many White people simultaneously hold both sympathetic and antagonistic attitudes toward Blacks. The present research found that activation of these conflicted racial attitudes gives rise to psychological tension and discomfort, as evidenced by negative mood change, and that the amount of discomfort depends on individual differences in measured ambivalence. The salience of Mite subjects' racial attitudes was manipulated by exposing half the subjects to controversial statements about a recent local incident of racial violence; the other half read neutral material Before and after this manipulation, subjects took a mood test disguised as a subliminal perception task. Subjects in the high-salience condition showed significantly more negative mood change. This effect was carried by high-salience subjects who were also relatively high on dispositional racial ambivalence, as measured by a questionnaire. Ambivalence was unrelated to mood in the control condition. A second study showed that merely completing the questionnaire was not sufficient to produce negative mood change.
This article reports the findings of a single study examining irony in talk among friends. Sixty-two 10-min conversations between college students and their friends were recorded and analyzed. Five main types of irony were found: jocularity, sarcasm, hyperbole, rhetorical questions, and understatements. These different forms of ironic language were part of 8% of all conversational turns. Analysis of these utterances revealed varying linguistic and social patterns and suggested several constraints on how and why people achieve ironic meaning. The implications of this conclusion for psychological theories of irony are discussed.
According to the tinge hypothesis, the evaluative tone of the literal meaning of ironic utterances automatically colors the hearer's perception of the intended meaning. In Experiment 1, participants read short stories that end with either a literal or an ironic insult. Ironic insults are rated as less critical than literal insults, and the ironic speaker is rated as less annoyed than the literal speaker. In addition, the speaker-target relationship is affected less negatively when the insult is delivered ironically rather than literally. These results are obtained regardless of whether the addressee or a third person is the target of the remark and regardless of whether the story characters know one another or have just met. In Experiment 2, participants read similar short stories that end with either a literal or ironic compliment. Results mirror those of Experiment 1. Ironic compliments are rated as less praising than literal compliments, and the ironic speaker is rated as less pleased than the literal speaker. The speaker-target relationship is affected less positively when the compliment is ironic than when it is literal. As in Experiment 1, these results are obtained regardless of addressee or familiarity of the story characters. The results from these two experiments support the tinge hypothesis by demonstrating that irony mutes the criticism or praise conveyed by literal language.
Two experiments investigated (a) subjects' intuitions about the communicative functions of irony and (b) how communicative functions affect recall. Previous research (Long, Kreuz, & Church, 1989) suggested that ironic statements allow speakers to fulfill communication goals that are difficult to convey literally. The present research extends these findings by identifying which communication goals (and other factors) influence recall. In Experiment 1, subjects read scenarios that concluded with ironic or literal statements and selected goals fulfilled by the statements from a checklist. The results indicated that ironic statements fulfill more communication goals than literal statements. In Experiment 2, subjects recalled these scenarios after a 24-hr delay. Presence of irony and fulfillment of pragmatically salient goals predicted recall in a series of multiple regression analyses.