We investigated the effect of culture and social status on sarcasm interpretation. Two hundred U.K. participants and 200 Chinese participants read scenarios in which the final comment could be either literal or sarcastic criticism and the speaker had equal, higher, or lower social status compared to the recipient. Comments were rated on degree of…

This study investigates the function of smiling intensity as a nondiscrete marker of humor in conversation. The smiling intensity of participants in eight conversational dyads was measured relative to the occurrence of humorous and nonhumorous events in the conversation. A relationship was found between higher smiling intensity and the occurrence…

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…

The use of sarcasm sometimes lessens and sometimes enhances the negativity inherent in a sarcastic statement. Using a realistic conversational format, participants read either a sarcastic or a non-sarcastic aggressive argument between same-gendered interlocutors, and rated the pragmatic goals being expressed using a range of measures taken from…