Science of sarcasm (not that you care)
- added June 3, 2008
- 34 responses
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- Britny
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What you may not have realized is that perceiving sarcasm, the smirking put-down that buries its barb by stating the opposite, requires a nifty mental trick that lies at the heart of social relations: figuring out what others are thinking. Those who lose the ability, whether through a head injury or the frontotemporal dementias afflicting the patients in Dr. Rankin’s study, just do not get it when someone says during a hurricane, “Nice weather we’re having.”
“A lot of the social cognition we take for granted and learn through childhood, the ability to appreciate that someone else is being ironic or sarcastic or angry — the so-called theory of mind that allows us to get inside someone else’s head — is characteristically lost very early in the course of frontotemporal dementia,” said Dr. Bradley F. Boeve, a behavioral neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
“It’s very disturbing for family members, but neurologists haven’t had good tools for measuring it,” he went on. “That’s why I found this study by Kate Rankin and her group so fascinating.”
Dr. Rankin, a neuropsychologist and assistant professor in the Memory and Aging Center at the University of California, San Francisco, used an innovative test developed in 2002, the Awareness of Social Inference Test, or Tasit. It incorporates videotaped examples of exchanges in which a person’s words seem straightforward enough on paper, but are delivered in a sarcastic style so ridiculously obvious to the able-brained that they seem lifted from a sitcom.
“I was testing people’s ability to detect sarcasm based entirely on paralinguistic cues, the manner of expression,” Dr. Rankin said.
In one videotaped exchange, a man walks into the room of a colleague named Ruth to tell her that he cannot take a class of hers that he had previously promised to take. “Don’t be silly, you shouldn’t feel bad about it,” she replies, hitting the kind of high and low registers of a voice usually reserved for talking to toddlers. “I know you’re busy — it probably wasn’t fair to expect you to squeeze it in,” she says, her lips curled in derision.
Although people with mild Alzheimer’s disease perceived the sarcasm as well as anyone, it went over the heads of many of those with semantic dementia, a progressive brain disease in which people forget words and their meanings.
“A lot of the social cognition we take for granted and learn through childhood, the ability to appreciate that someone else is being ironic or sarcastic or angry — the so-called theory of mind that allows us to get inside someone else’s head — is characteristically lost very early in the course of frontotemporal dementia,” said Dr. Bradley F. Boeve, a behavioral neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
“It’s very disturbing for family members, but neurologists haven’t had good tools for measuring it,” he went on. “That’s why I found this study by Kate Rankin and her group so fascinating.”
Dr. Rankin, a neuropsychologist and assistant professor in the Memory and Aging Center at the University of California, San Francisco, used an innovative test developed in 2002, the Awareness of Social Inference Test, or Tasit. It incorporates videotaped examples of exchanges in which a person’s words seem straightforward enough on paper, but are delivered in a sarcastic style so ridiculously obvious to the able-brained that they seem lifted from a sitcom.
“I was testing people’s ability to detect sarcasm based entirely on paralinguistic cues, the manner of expression,” Dr. Rankin said.
In one videotaped exchange, a man walks into the room of a colleague named Ruth to tell her that he cannot take a class of hers that he had previously promised to take. “Don’t be silly, you shouldn’t feel bad about it,” she replies, hitting the kind of high and low registers of a voice usually reserved for talking to toddlers. “I know you’re busy — it probably wasn’t fair to expect you to squeeze it in,” she says, her lips curled in derision.
Although people with mild Alzheimer’s disease perceived the sarcasm as well as anyone, it went over the heads of many of those with semantic dementia, a progressive brain disease in which people forget words and their meanings.
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I am Not sarcastic...
Cynical, maybe...
And perhaps a bit of an Asshole...
But, definetly not a Prick!
Back-Off lady.....
Or I shall fire my cannons... -
Does anyone else think that the Current TV computerized voiceover lady needs to vary her inflection a bit more so that the sarcastic comments that we all post every day can come through as we intended?
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the irony of the previous comment is immense.. is it not apparent, edmubnd, that the results of this study negate a computer's ability to detect and process sarcasm?
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- photosynthetics
- 4 months ago
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I am a product of my envirorment, can't beat NY sarcasm
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That would be so awesome to have the inability to tell who is being sarcastic.
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But...but...if I didn't understand sarcasm, how would I guage whether I'm better than others?
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i seriously think that if i couldn't process sarcasm... i would go crazy...
actually.. if others couldn't process my sarcasm..
i would go crazy..
its very simple.
"oh joy" does not mean im having a wondiferous time -
I'm not sure about all languages, but I know german has plenty of sarcasm as well.
"Ganz Toll" literally translated is "totally great"
but is used everyday by every german to mean, "What the hell? you gotta be kidding me." or "hey, you just made an ass of yourself."
I'm glad I'm not a computer. Life wouldn't be fun without a little sarcasm, it can actually create social bonds if you understand it, stand your ground, and respond with something just as witty.-
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- drewsuf721
- 4 months ago
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I think that sarcasm can be funny, but I think it is overwhelmingly detrimental. I don't like it when it's mean.
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- joshuaheller
- 4 months ago
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It's an amazing tool for relating to someone you may have just met.
Too much? Not so fun. -
I don't get it.
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- VoyagerFilms
- 4 months ago
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This is the greatest finding since Darwin's theory!
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People with serious mental conditions have trouble perceiving sarcasm? Wow, thanks, science!
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I'm sarcastic all the time with one of my friends, and she never gets it at all. maybe she has dementia? hahaha
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- emerald_eyeshadow
- 4 months ago
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Nice headline Britny!
And I'm not being sarcastic by saying that.
Or that.
Or... Gah! I'm trapped in a sarcasm vs sincerity misrepresentation quandary!
*rubs head, goes to lie down* -
I can be sacastcic, but I sure as heck don't have Alziemers disease...this is strange...soembody must've just got bored and made a wierd study that did'nt make any sense.
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this sounds crazy but, i think i get it..
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I think it's also a generational thing. My mother usually fails to recognize sarcasm. Or maybe she's just not used to it.
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- interrobang
- 4 months ago
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Hey this is the "emotional intelligence" that has been the buzz for the past few years. According to all that is Holy (the self help books) is is supposed to replace I.Q.
Its all about relations -
So next time someone doesn't get my sarcasm I can say they have a brain disease. Nice.
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- Nicoleliole
- 4 months ago
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I totally hate people who don't get sarcasm! It makes me feel like they are challenged.
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- JesseSanchez
- 4 months ago
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science is sarcasm.
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Sarcasm is so '90's...
Additionally, it displays the lathargic nature of it's user. In other words, it's just a way for a person to express her/his feelings without actually putting forth an effort to articulate her/his-self.
But seriously, if a person wants to truly communicate her/his feelings accurately to another person, leave out the sarcasm. -
I imagine this is simliar to satire
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- VynalFrontier
- 4 months ago
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That's soooo cerebral.
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- kramericus
- 4 months ago
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I have readily confused my own sarcasm with the truth.
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- mark_monroe
- 4 months ago
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very interesting (not being sarcastic)
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- zenandzora
- 4 months ago
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