Sarcastic people are more creative, study finds

Of all the personality types that exist, sarcasm is one of the most controversial. A lot of people don’t find humor in the idea of ​​saying something that means the exact opposite, or in ironies that reveal a very acidic humor. However, sarcasm makes people more creative. That’s what a study at Harvard University in the USA says.

O incredible.club wanted to go deeper into the subject to bring you the most curious revelations of the research. Check out!

“Wow! This vase of yours is full of life”, says someone about a vase with artificial flowers… Or “why are you in such a hurry?” to someone who is walking very slowly. Comments like these are typical of sarcastic people. And while there are those who find all this very funny, on the other hand, many people consider that the authors of phrases like that are nothing more than inconvenient beings.

It’s very difficult to come to a consensus on sarcasm, as not everyone likes it. However, most people have laughed at least once in their lives after hearing a good irony. The fact is that this way of expressing yourself has advantages and disadvantagesboth for those who use it and for those who listen to it.

If you consider yourself sarcastic, you know that there are two things that can cloud this attitude: the first is having to explain what you just said when someone doesn’t understand, and the second is that often confusion and misunderstandings arise that can annoy and even hurt other people. That’s why sarcasm works best when used between people you’re close to, and the study we’ll cover next confirms this statement.

Irony collects enemies, but a survey carried out by the Harvard Business School came out “in defense” of this form of communication, claiming that “both the construction and the interpretation of sarcasm generate a greater creativity, since they activate abstract thinking”.

The study aimed to analyze the psychological effects on the receiver and sender of a sarcastic message, and was carried out by Francesca Gino (Harvard Business School), Adam Galinsky, Professor Vikram Pandit (Columbia Business School), and Li Huang (European Business School INSEAD).

The specialists concluded that sarcasm favors not only the cognitive processes of those who resort to it, but also those who listen to it, since, by going beyond what is literal, forces to bring out contradictions between the meanings intended. That is, if you are among those who prefer to stay away from sarcastic people, perhaps you should rethink this attitude.

This relationship between creativity and sarcasm may arise due to the fact that the brain is forced to think creatively to understand or convey a sarcastic message, a process that is facilitated by abstraction. The agency needs to differentiate between the real meaning and the ironic of the ideas received. And when such a mission is successfully accomplished, it is because creativity has also entered the picture.

The 114 participants in the survey had to participate in sarcastic, sincere or neutral dialogues. After that, they had to perform tasks that tested their creativity levels. The result confirmed the experts’ hypothesis: those who maintained a sarcastic conversation (and understood the irony used), either as a sender or receiver of sarcasm, performed better on the tasks.

Thus, the study suggests that “sarcasm has the potential to catalyze creativity in everyone”and yet it is possible that “naturally creative people create more opportunities to use irony”.

Interestingly, this isn’t the only study that indicates a relationship between creativity and other things generally considered negative. For example, moderate noise generates a distraction that helps the brain to establish different associations.

Resorting to sarcasm indiscriminately can cause several problems. It is necessary to learn to use it in the right situation and with the right people. Otherwise, your comment may be interpreted negatively. The study also confirmed something you probably already thought: sarcasm flows better when there is mutual trust between the people involved in the conversation.

So, confidence, tone and content are the most important elements in a sarcastic conversation. When someone makes a mistake in this sense, it can end up giving rise to misperceptions, as irony is often misunderstood.

Are you for or against the use of sarcasm? Have you ever found yourself in a situation where irony got you into trouble? Leave your comment!