That was clever of you! Perspectives and verbal irony
What does ironic language indicate about an emotional state? When we experience negative events, we may produce an ironic comment about our experience to cope. We tested whether using irony indexes less negative emotional states of speakers and listeners compared to literal statements. In addition,...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Sciendo
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Psychology of Language and Communication |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.58734/plc-2024-0014 |
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| _version_ | 1832570268882567168 |
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| author | Pfeifer Valeria A. Mehl Matthias R. Lai Vicky Tzuyin |
| author_facet | Pfeifer Valeria A. Mehl Matthias R. Lai Vicky Tzuyin |
| author_sort | Pfeifer Valeria A. |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | What does ironic language indicate about an emotional state? When we experience negative events, we may produce an ironic comment about our experience to cope. We tested whether using irony indexes less negative emotional states of speakers and listeners compared to literal statements. In addition, we tested whether comments directed at the self (“How clumsy/careful of me!”) lead to a different emotional state compared to statements directed at someone else (“How clumsy/careful of you!”). We found that listeners were rated as feeling more negative and more aroused when a statement was directed at them, whereas for speakers, direction did not matter. Further, self-irony led to lower ratings of negativity in speakers. Our results show that whether or not someone is an addressee of a statement matters for their perceived emotional state, and that self-irony may index down-regulated emotional states. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-268ed77cd2864b3e91b32a671d6a700c |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2083-8506 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Sciendo |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Psychology of Language and Communication |
| spelling | doaj-art-268ed77cd2864b3e91b32a671d6a700c2025-02-02T15:49:16ZengSciendoPsychology of Language and Communication2083-85062024-01-0128138941410.58734/plc-2024-0014That was clever of you! Perspectives and verbal ironyPfeifer Valeria A.0Mehl Matthias R.1Lai Vicky Tzuyin21Psychology, University of Arizona, United States1Psychology, University of Arizona, United States1Psychology, University of Arizona, United StatesWhat does ironic language indicate about an emotional state? When we experience negative events, we may produce an ironic comment about our experience to cope. We tested whether using irony indexes less negative emotional states of speakers and listeners compared to literal statements. In addition, we tested whether comments directed at the self (“How clumsy/careful of me!”) lead to a different emotional state compared to statements directed at someone else (“How clumsy/careful of you!”). We found that listeners were rated as feeling more negative and more aroused when a statement was directed at them, whereas for speakers, direction did not matter. Further, self-irony led to lower ratings of negativity in speakers. Our results show that whether or not someone is an addressee of a statement matters for their perceived emotional state, and that self-irony may index down-regulated emotional states.https://doi.org/10.58734/plc-2024-0014speakerlistenerverbal ironyemotionemotion regulationself-talk |
| spellingShingle | Pfeifer Valeria A. Mehl Matthias R. Lai Vicky Tzuyin That was clever of you! Perspectives and verbal irony Psychology of Language and Communication speaker listener verbal irony emotion emotion regulation self-talk |
| title | That was clever of you! Perspectives and verbal irony |
| title_full | That was clever of you! Perspectives and verbal irony |
| title_fullStr | That was clever of you! Perspectives and verbal irony |
| title_full_unstemmed | That was clever of you! Perspectives and verbal irony |
| title_short | That was clever of you! Perspectives and verbal irony |
| title_sort | that was clever of you perspectives and verbal irony |
| topic | speaker listener verbal irony emotion emotion regulation self-talk |
| url | https://doi.org/10.58734/plc-2024-0014 |
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