When Do We Pick Up On Sarcasm?

Sarcasm is one of those forms of humor you either appreciate, or you're just bugged by. And as children develop their language and social skills, a lot can be told from their ability to recognize sarcasm. Anthony explains what exactly those things are.

Read More:

Empathy helps children to understand sarcasm
"The greater the empathy skills of children, the easier it is for them to recognize sarcasm, according to a new study in the open-access journal Frontiers in Psychology."

Children's processing of emotion in ironic language
"One of the challenges children face in developing emotion recog- nition is created by the fact that people often convey emotions indirectly, for example, through use of verbal irony."

Children's processing of emotion in ironic language
"In the present study we addressed two novel questions: (1) is children's irony appreciation and processing related to their empathy skills? and (2) is children's processing of a speaker's ironic meaning best explained by a modular or interactive theory?"

The Science of Sarcasm? Yeah, Right
"In an episode of "The Simpsons," mad scientist Professor Frink demonstrates his latest creation: a sarcasm detector."

The Science of Sarcasm (Not That You Care)
"There was nothing very interesting in Katherine P. Rankin's study of sarcasm - at least, nothing worth your important time. All she did was use an M.R.I. to find the place in the brain where the ability to detect sarcasm resides. But then, you probably already knew it was in the right parahippocampal gyrus."

How Sarcasm Works
"You walk outside to leave for work and discover that it's incredibly cold and rainy. Your next-door neighbor is leaving at the same time. "Great weather, huh?" you say. "Yes, wonderful!" he replies."

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[dingdongdiddler]

Without my sarcasm I would be absolutely personalityless. It's probably the only emotion left in my body. In most cases every word I say is sarcastic

[mikvance]

Oh, a video on sarcasm? This will be REALLY helpful.

[arielsuarez]

I wouldn't survive without my sense of irony and sarcasm. Man, I can totally relate to you.

[goddammtroubleman]

Sarcasm is an art as timeless as speech itself.

[MsWannabeGamer]

Sarcasm is my main utility in conversations. It's especially funny with people who are completely oblivious to it.

[rycullen]

i am sarcastic but i often fail to detect sarcasm

[decourtennicolas]

cool study. I want to conduct a study "when do we pick up that a person is just dumb and not acting sarcastically". My hypothesis: it takes wayyy longer when the person in question is good looking. 

[latrellfrasier]

What kills me is when someone makes a jokey sarcastic comment, and there are always those few goddamned people who think they're serious. Now I know that understanding sarcasm isn't just something that can be learned, but it has a big natural side as well.

[hardlyHarley]

My sarcasm usually mixes with how I would put things out a bit more blunt than the usual person would, and I sometimes find it funny, and annoying, when people think I'm joking, instead of being sarcastic. It's also funny how some people on the internet take my comments seriously.

[moeezS]

Anthony, your "Guide to reviewing videogames without ever playing them" at Rev3Games PAX Panel 2013 was full of delicious sarcasm and satire so keep it up!

[BlissfulSlp]

Oh wow I never knew that! Thank you DNews you've taught me something very valuable today, I'm going to call all my friends and family and tell them the wonderful news right away!

[BNL]

Sarcasm is a great stress reliever when used silently too. It helped me get over the hurt from a class trip.

[symbolxchannel]

Well, I appreciate your sincerity. And I have to admit, I would probably react the same way as you did in similar circumstances... As sad as it may sound, sometimes being rude is required to assimilate how inappropriate a behaviour could be! We all have to go trough this, at least once...

[DynamicDreamer]

My daughter comes from a line of women full of sarcasm, shes 8 and falls in line. I get mad sometimes but have to swallow it because i created her, ill let her flourish. Protect the next generation of sarcastic geniuses

[dzabin]

Picking on someone and sarcasm are two different things. I Hate it when people pick on others, but I adore some good sarcasm. Also, picking on someone close to you is generally a sign of affection... I never understood this... But like you said, it is a learned skill.

[xxacidusxx]

I got into the bad habit of being a sarcastic snot during the early years of high school. It's just very 'contagious' if it's a good way to describe it, and most of the time it just comes out more emotional and rude than what I anticipated. I think it's way easier to communicate without sarcasm as most people that do understand it in my life perceive it as arrogance and those that can't are just dumbfound by it.

[looncraz]

You're probably more like me: minimally empathic, but very sympathetic.

The two are different, but often confused.

In an informal group conversation I have to consciously think about what everyone means by their words and calculate whether they are being sarcastic, making a joke, or expressing an emotion. It just doesn't click naturally - though I've done it for so long I thought it was natural.

I take everything literally at first, filter it, then ascertain what was meant by what was said...

[-ZerDark-]

I was JUST thinking about this the other day.
I was recalling a specific moment which took place when I was 12, wherein a sarcastic comment was made in a film and I took it literally. It hit me all at once and I was ashamed of my 12-year-old self for not catching it.
Interesting topic.

[pelafmonkeyphintson]

He's such a nice guy for saying all those things about the kids!

[JapaneseMessiah]

I feel that your tone and how you say it also makes a really big difference. Hence when we read text it's a lot harder to detect sarcasm.