Title: Sarcastic Much? Intelligence, Wit, And Creativity All Linked To Sarcasm, Study Suggests
Headings: Sarcastic Much? Intelligence, Wit, And Creativity All Linked To Sarcasm, Study Suggests
Sarcastic Much? Intelligence, Wit, And Creativity All Linked To Sarcasm, Study Suggests
Content: Sarcastic Much? Intelligence, Wit, And Creativity All Linked To Sarcasm, Study Suggests
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Sarcastic Much? Intelligence, Wit, And Creativity All Linked To Sarcasm, Study Suggests
Jul 27, 2015 04:43 PM By Christopher Cruz
Sarcasm can make people more creative, a new study suggests. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock
Sarcasm is often viewed as a low form of wit, but new research published in Organization Behavior and Human Decision Processes suggests that it might make you more creative. Little research has been done on the effects of sarcasm, which is why researchers from a host of top American universities, including Harvard and Columbia, experimented on how sarcastic comments affect creativity. The experiments involved more than 300 men and women whose creativity was tested by completing tasks after saying or receiving sarcastic comments. Another control group of participants was also asked to complete the tasks, although they were told sincere comments. The findings revealed that those who gave and received sarcastic comments were three times more creative than the control group because the sarcasm forced their brains to think abstractly, boosting creativity. “We found that sarcasm may stimulate creativity, the generation of ideas, insights, or problem solutions that are novel and useful,” Dr. Li Huang, an author of the study and assistant professor of organizational behavior at Insead, a graduate business school, told The Independent. “ As Oscar Wilde believed, sarcasm may represent a lower form of wit, but we found that it certainly catalyzes a higher form of thought.”