Contextual Factors That Trigger Sarcasm

We examined the contextual factors that may trigger sarcasm in conversations between close friends and colleagues. Experiment 1 provided situations in which a close friend behaved in neutral or non-neutral (silly/annoying) manners. Sixty participants freely responded and rated the level of sarcasm of their responses and their communicative intent. These self-reported ratings were compared to ratings provided by 360 external observers in Experiment 2, who evaluated the same situations and responses. Both selfand other-reported ratings were higher when the preceding context was perceived as non-neutral, and when the intended/perceived intent was to mock the addressee or make clever remarks. Only observers associated higher sarcasm ratings with the intent to criticize. Experiment 3 tested sarcasm-triggering context types in finer granularity and textually manipulated the social relationship between interlocutors. Situations in which the addressee failed to recognize their own flaws, behaved silly, or talked about uninteresting topics triggered stronger sarcasm use than neutral situations. Situations in which the addressee behaved in entitled or demanding manners triggered stronger sarcasm if the speaker found them funny, but weaker sarcasm if they found them annoying. The social relationship between the speaker and the addressee did not affect the frequency of sarcasm use. Taken together, sarcasm was consistently associated with a light level of negativity, which appeared when the context evoked emotional reactions such as silliness or annoyance. Nonetheless, speakers and observers alike evaluated sarcasm as a humorous and bond-enhancing tool of communication in general.