Title: How to Deal with Sarcastic People | Savvy Psychologist
Headings: How to Deal with Mean Sarcasm
How to Deal with Mean Sarcasm
6-minute read
Featured on QDT
Sarcasm requires more advanced thinking skills
This doesn't mean sarcastic people are smarter, despite what some Internet articles might want you to believe.
Neither human judges nor machine algorithms are very good at identifying sarcasm on Twitter.
Why do people use sarcasm?
Next time you call customer service, your best bet is to be nice.
How to respond to mean sarcasm
Response #1: Answer them literally
Respond with the opposite of sarcasm—sincerity.
Response #2: Ignore them (and maybe throw some compassion their way)
Response #3: Label real feelings and follow up with sincere questions
Response #4: Give some free advice
About the Author
Jade Wu, PhD
More Tips from Savvy Psychologist

Content: After listening to one of the messages, participants were asked to solve either a set of analytical problems or a set of creative problems. So what happened? Those who listened to the angry message saw their creative problem-solving abilities hindered, but they kicked butt on the analytical task. In other words, they worked harder, but not smarter. Naked anger squelched creativity. By contrast, those who listened to the sarcastic message actually enhanced their creative problem-solving. Why? The researchers speculated that because anger is threatening, it automatically puts people on the defensive (which causes them to narrow their problem-solving to just the facts, ma’am) and become more detail-oriented but rigid. Next time you call customer service, your best bet is to be nice. By contrast, sarcasm, with its humor and figurative language, is less threatening.