UK Psychologists Find Sarcasm Could Be Sign Of Intelligence

Sarcasm is considered to have the power to aid in ‘outside the box’ thinking. Sarcasm is omnipresent. You will come across witty individuals at home, at school or college and even in your office. Sarcasm at times could be irritating, or may sound annoying. But, this is an effective way of being critical of something or some people with a dash of humour without being harsh.

Generally, people resort to sarcasm as a way of expressing their disappointment or to take a dig at someone. Sarcastic comments at times may hurt others too, depending on the tone and body language and the intention. However, sarcasm is considered to be a sign of intelligence and creativity.

Children are usually considered innocent, especially those under the age of five. They speak what they think and they rarely fake their expressions. They are unable to detect the nuances of sarcasm in a sentence as it’s too complex for their brains to comprehend. A child’s capacity to understand another person’s intentions becomes sophisticated with age.

Recently, A psychologist at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom conducted a research in which the participants had to lie down under an fMRI scanner as they read different scenarios of events in day-to-day life. In some cases, the statements were intended to be ironic, while in other cases the same words were used for a person to intend sarcastic criticism. This led to firing up of the mental network involved in understanding another person’s intentions. It was found that sarcasm triggered greater activity of semantic networks in the brain along with brain regions involved in humour.

Sarcasm lets the mind expand to greater possibilities. Research has shown that those who are on the giving and receiving end of sarcasm performed three times better in creativity tests. In fact, sarcasm is considered to have the power to aid in ‘outside the box’ thinking.