Cross-cultural nuances in sarcasm comprehension: a comparative study of Chinese and American perspectives

Abstract

It is evident that sarcasm can be interpreted differently due to various factors, However, rare research was conducted to investigate the influence of national culture on sarcasm comprehension despite its valuable theoretical implication. This study used an online rating task to explore how national culture impacts the comprehension of sarcasm, focusing on the differences between Chinese and American cultural values (i.e., power distance, uncertainty avoidance, collectivism, long-term orientation, and masculinity) and their influence on comprehending sarcastic praise and criticism. The study showed that Chinese participants tend to understand sarcasm less than Americans. It also found that Power Distance is linked to better sarcasm comprehension in both cultures, while Uncertainty Avoidance has a negative effect on it, especially in Chinese participants. Collectivism is also associated with improved sarcasm comprehension, especially in Chinese participants. However, Masculinity and Long-Term Orientation do not seem to have a significant impact on sarcasm comprehension, regardless of nationality or the type of comment (praise or criticism). Overall, the study reveals nuanced differences in how cultural values shape the comprehension of sarcasm in Chinese and American contexts, underscoring the complex interplay between culture and communication.

The impact of emojis on verbal irony comprehension in computer-mediated communication: A cross-cultural study

“…This study found that American participants perceive and interpret verbal irony more effectively than their Chinese counterparts. This finding is consistent with previous research by Du et al (2024) and partially aligns with the research conducted by Zhu and Filik (2023), which demonstrated that UK participants, representing western cultures, tend to use sarcasm more frequently than Chinese participants, who represent eastern cultures. This may be due to less use of verbal irony in eastern cultures (Blasko et al, 2021).…”

“…This group was also aged between 18 and 24 years, (M = 21.62, SD = 1.79). The sample size of the study was based on previous study using similar stimuli (Du et al, 2024;Garcia et al, 2022).…”

“…In contrast, American participants will perceive and interpret verbal irony with winking face emojis better than that with smiling face emojis or without emoji. In addition, we hypothesize that verbal irony perception and interpretation will also be significantly different between American and Chinese groups due to differences in national culture factors (Du et al, 2024).…”

“…Their research showed that UK participants found verbal irony to be more amusing and polite than literal criticism, whereas Chinese participants viewed it as more amusing but also more aggressive compared to literal criticism. Finally, Du et al (2024) explored the impact of national cultural values on verbal irony comprehension and found participants from China were generally less adept at grasping sarcasm compared to their American counterparts. Additionally, the study revealed that uncertainty avoidance tends to hinder sarcasm comprehension, a trend that was particularly pronounced among the Chinese participants.…”

“…Ironic praise, on the other hand, involves the use of apparently derogatory remarks to express admiration, such as affectionately referring to someone as a "raging psychopath" for their overwhelming kindness. Despite the prevalence of verbal irony, research into the factor impacting its comprehension remains nascent (Banasik-Jemielniak & Kałowski, 2022;Du et al, 2024;Fabry, 2021;Zhu & Filik, 2023).…”