Monday, June 23, 2008 | Reason : In the News | print version

Sarcasm Seen as Evolutionary Survival Skill

by Live Science

Thanks to Mark Gleason for the link.

http://www.livescience.com/history/080620-hn-sarcasm.html

Sarcasm Seen as Evolutionary Survival Skill
By Meredith F. Small, LiveScience's Human Nature Columnist

Humans are fundamentally social animals. Our social nature means that we interact with each other in positive, friendly ways, and it also means we know how to manipulate others in a very negative way.

Neurophysiologist Katherine Rankin at the University of California, San Francisco, has also recently discovered that sarcasm, which is both positively funny and negatively nasty, plays an important part in human social interaction.

So what?

I mean really, who cares? Oh for God's sake. Don't you have anything better to do that read this column?

According to Dr. Rankin, if you didn't get the sarcastic tone of the previous sentences you must have some damage to your parahippocampal gyrus which is located in the right brain. People with dementia, or head injuries in that area, often lose the ability to pick up on sarcasm, and so they don't respond in a socially appropriate ways.

Presumably, this is a pathology, which in turn suggests that sarcasm is part of human nature and probably an evolutionarily good thing.

How might something so, well, sarcastic as sarcasm, be part of the human social toolbox?

Evolutionary biologists claim that sociality is what has made humans such a successful species. We are masters at what anthropologists and others call "social intelligence." We recognize and keep track of hundreds of relationships, and we easily distinguish between enemies and friends.

More important, we run our lives by social calculation. A favor is mentally recorded and paid back, sometimes many years later. Likewise, insults are marked down on the mental score card in indelible ink. And we are constantly bickering and making up, even with people we love.

Sarcasm, then, is a verbal hammer that connects people in both a negative and positive way. We know that sense of humor is important to relationships; if someone doesn't get your jokes, they aren't likely to be your friend (or at least that's my bottom line about friendship). Sarcasm is simply humor's dark side, and it would be just as disconcerting if a friend didn't get your snide remarks.

It's also easy to imagine how sarcasm might be selected over time as evolutionarily crucial. Imagine two ancient humans running across the savannah with a hungry lion in pursuit. One guy says to the other, "Are we having fun yet?" and the other just looks blank and stops to figure out what in the world his pal meant by that remark. End of friendship, end of one guy's contribution to the future of the human gene pool.

Fast forward a few million years and the network of human relationships is wider and more complex, and just as important to survival. The corporate chairman throws out a sarcastic remark and those who "get" it laugh, smile, and gain favor. In the same way, if the chair never makes a remark, sarcastic people are making them behind his or her back, forming a clique by their mutually negative, but funny, comments. Either way, sarcasm plays a role in making and breaking alliances and friendship.

Thanks goodness, because life without out sarcasm would be a dull and way too nice place to be, if you ask me.

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1. Comment #198094 by Apathy personified on June 23, 2008 at 7:44 am

Wow, what a really useful way to spend your research grant.

Other Comments by Apathy personified

2. Comment #198102 by infidel_michael on June 23, 2008 at 8:01 am

Is the lack of sarcasm the only disorder caused by damage of "parahippocampal gyrus"? Do chimps have also this brain area? What happens to them?

Maybe sarcasm is only a side-effect without any evolutionary advantage. Such study should address also this possibility.

Consider this:
If you break your arm, you're not able to write. Therefore writing is an evolutionary adaptation. See the fallacy?

It's also easy to imagine how sarcasm might be selected over time as evolutionarily crucial. Imagine two ancient humans running across the savannah with a hungry lion in pursuit. One guy says to the other, "Are we having fun yet?" ...

At this point I have to agree with creationists, that some evolutionist (especially evolutionary psychologists) are making up just-so-stories without any explanatory value. I can imagine how the ability to write can save someone's life, but this doesn't make the "adaptation of writing" more plausible.

Other Comments by infidel_michael

3. Comment #198105 by Pattern Seeker on June 23, 2008 at 8:08 am

I don't know if it's a "evolutionary survival skill," but I know myself and others on this site love using it. Long live sarcasm, mockery and derision.

Other Comments by Pattern Seeker

4. Comment #198106 by Nick6742 on June 23, 2008 at 8:09 am

It may not seem that valuable, but functional neuroanatomy can have a major clinical importance. I think you would be surprised at how often neurologists use social deficits as well as motor to diagnose what specific dementia a patient suffers and narrow down the pathology going on in the brain, the target for any pharmacological or surgical therapy.

Other Comments by Nick6742

5. Comment #198113 by AllanW on June 23, 2008 at 8:27 am

Sarcasm Seen as Evolutionary Survival Skill

Yeah, right.

Other Comments by AllanW

6. Comment #198125 by mhud on June 23, 2008 at 8:56 am

Michael, please don't be so quick to dismiss this as not having an evolutionary advantage.

It would serve as a mechanism to make those with psychological problems into less acceptable candidates for mating. By using social structures to choose mates, you would be selecting those most suitable for life in society.

You're correct in that it probably has no impact on running away from a predator, but predation is not the only force driving the adaptation of species, though it is a major one.

Other Comments by mhud

7. Comment #198128 by mordacious1 on June 23, 2008 at 8:59 am

This is the BEST article I have ever read. The research is brilliant. The money was well spent. These guys should get the Nobel Prize.

Other Comments by mordacious1

8. Comment #198131 by Dante2428 on June 23, 2008 at 9:09 am

Imagine two ancient humans running across the savanna with a hungry lion in pursuit. One guy says to the other, "There's no point in trying to go faster than a lion!" and the other guy replies "I'm not trying to outrun the lion, just you."

The first guy just looks blank and stops to figure out what in the world his pal meant by that remark. End of friendship, end of one guy's contribution to the future of the human gene pool.

Because evolution has a crush on pessimists.

Other Comments by Dante2428

9. Comment #198139 by irate_atheist on June 23, 2008 at 9:17 am

8. Comment #198131 by Dante2428 -

Quality, quality.

Because evolution has a crush on pessimists.

There may be something in this idea. I doubt I'll get very far in working it out, however.

Other Comments by irate_atheist

10. Comment #198149 by moderndaythomas on June 23, 2008 at 9:30 am

My parahippocampal gyrus is working just fine thank you very much and sometimes I just don't find people funny.
Not intentionaly funny anyway.

we easily distinguish between enemies and friends.

Easily or readily?

Maybe sarcasm is only a side-effect without any evolutionary advantage. Such study should address also this possibility.

I don't think that the purpose of this article is to claim that sarcasm gives us an evolutionary advantage, but rather to show that it at least has a role in our social fabric.
One that was not selected against or purged from the species long ago.

Edit: I just love the word purged.

Other Comments by moderndaythomas

11. Comment #198150 by Epinephrine on June 23, 2008 at 9:31 am

This is the BEST article I have ever read. The research is brilliant. The money was well spent. These guys should get the Nobel Prize.

Mordacious1, you are responsible for the worst case of coffea-naso-ructus I think I've ever had.

Clearly however, you've saved me an MRI. My parahippocampal gyrus is functioning just fine.

Other Comments by Epinephrine

12. Comment #198154 by Apathy personified on June 23, 2008 at 9:35 am

\sarcasm off

Because evolution has a crush on pessimists

I agree with irate, there could be something there.
Consider - Pessimists tend to be on the defensive most of the time (in attitude, body language, etc) and are always looking for the worst case scenario. (I'm the most cynical, coffee addled pessimist - i'm speaking from personal experience).
So they have a slight advantage in the initial stages of any dangerous situation.
I'm not an expert, or a biologist - this is just an ill informed guess - be gentle when telling me how wrong i am.

\sarcasm back on

Other Comments by Apathy personified

13. Comment #198157 by Szkeptik on June 23, 2008 at 9:37 am

Ok, I didn't get anything of this.

Why does a guy running from a lion want to know if they're having fun?

Other Comments by Szkeptik

14. Comment #198158 by Steve Zara on June 23, 2008 at 9:38 am

Oh dear. This seems to suggest fundamentalist religion is a mental disease:

Fundamentalist: "Hey, listen, God made the world 6000 years ago and then flooded it!"
Bystander: "Yeah, right!"
Fundamentalist walks away feeling vindicated.

Other Comments by Steve Zara

15. Comment #198164 by phil rimmer on June 23, 2008 at 9:45 am

Ok, I didn't get anything of this

Of course you didn't!

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16. Comment #198168 by moderndaythomas on June 23, 2008 at 9:55 am

Imagine two ancient humans running across the savannah with a hungry lion in pursuit.

Then again which one's more likely to invent the faster sneaker?
The joker or the serious one?

Other Comments by moderndaythomas

17. Comment #198169 by Mike O'Risal on June 23, 2008 at 9:56 am

Over the course of evolutionary history, there's only been one species that we know of that was more reliant on sarcasm as an evolutionary skill than humans. I'm speaking, of course, of Sarcasmodon. This distant relation of one lineage of saber-toothed cats flourished during the late Eocene, finally disappearing when its contemporaries got tired of its bullsh*t and beat it into extinction.

What a great evolutionary edge is sarcasm.

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18. Comment #198172 by moderndaythomas on June 23, 2008 at 10:00 am

What a great evolutionary edge is sarcasm.

Flipping people the bird with a smile on my face has always made me friends.

Other Comments by moderndaythomas

19. Comment #198183 by DamnDirtyApe on June 23, 2008 at 10:21 am

I think Zara has cracked it...

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20. Comment #198189 by aussieatheist_111 on June 23, 2008 at 10:38 am

Oh dear. This seems to suggest fundamentalist religion is a mental disease:

Fundamentalist: "Hey, listen, God made the world 6000 years ago and then flooded it!"
Bystander: "Yeah, right!"
Fundamentalist walks away feeling vindicated.

This could equally well apply to any argument had with a girlfriend/spouse.

Other Comments by aussieatheist_111

21. Comment #198216 by TeraBrat on June 23, 2008 at 11:39 am

Imagine two ancient humans running across the savannah with a hungry lion in pursuit. One guy says to the other, "Are we having fun yet?" and the other just looks blank and stops to figure out what in the world his pal meant by that remark. End of friendship, end of one guy's contribution to the future of the human gene pool.

I think that statement needs to be researched and verified.

Other Comments by TeraBrat

22. Comment #198242 by Frankus1122 on June 23, 2008 at 12:31 pm

Comment #198128 by mordacious1

And the above is the BEST post I have ever read. Keep up the good work mordacious1 !

Other Comments by Frankus1122

23. Comment #198276 by Oystein Elgaroy on June 23, 2008 at 1:20 pm

Of course sarcasm is an evolutionary survival skill! It is the only way of communicating with the in-laws.

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24. Comment #198280 by mordacious1 on June 23, 2008 at 1:35 pm

Frankus1122

You should live to be 110, with your evolutionary survival skills.

Other Comments by mordacious1

25. Comment #198285 by Steve Zara on June 23, 2008 at 1:46 pm

Comment #198276 by Oystein Elgaroy

I think if I reveal that I am a Southern English fellow, and my husband and in-laws are Northern (Yorkshire), the total ineffectiveness of sarcasm in that context will be understood. On the other hand, for dealing with Londoners, sarcasm is vital.

Other Comments by Steve Zara

26. Comment #198292 by Layla Nasreddin on June 23, 2008 at 1:57 pm

NO! You think?

It's certainly a requirement for survival on the Internet, at any rate...

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27. Comment #198294 by Vaal on June 23, 2008 at 2:02 pm

Ah, it didn't do Father Jessup, the most sarcastic priest alive, much good in Father Ted episode "kicking Bishop Brennan up the arse". He ended up locked in Father Jack's used underwear basket, and he was very thirsty...

Mrs Doyle: Would you like a cup of tea Bishop?
Father Jessup: No, we'd rather die of t'irst (thirst)
Mrs Doyle: Are you sure you wouldn't like a cup?
Father Jessup: No, we'd rather die of thirst...
Mrs Doyle: (nodding and turning) Ok so...

If nobody has seen this, highly recommended.

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28. Comment #198298 by moderndaythomas on June 23, 2008 at 2:14 pm

Oystein Elgaroy:

Of course sarcasm is an evolutionary survival skill! It is the only way of communicating with the in-laws.

LOL. I wish I'd thought of that.

Other Comments by moderndaythomas

29. Comment #198328 by Cartomancer on June 23, 2008 at 3:06 pm

What? You mean I had it the wrong way round all these years?

I thought sarcasm was the base state of human communication. As far as I was concerned sincerity only developed in the relatively recent past as a quick way of conducting business with slow-witted Americans, dour whippet-fancying northerners and the terminally elderly.

In fact the only time my friends and I stop being sarcastic to one another is to hurl imaginative insults and argue over why it's not my round again.

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30. Comment #198363 by artemisa on June 23, 2008 at 4:14 pm

could sarcasm be hiding what you mean in a remark?
as "many truths have been said in jest"

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31. Comment #198367 by Steve Zara on June 23, 2008 at 4:22 pm

Comment #198328 by Cartomancer

With the combination of wit, sarcasm and polari, it is astonishing that any gay man ever managed to have a bona time with anyone.

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32. Comment #198379 by Radesq on June 23, 2008 at 5:08 pm

Humor in general and sarcasm in particular are very useful tools to get your point across when you are in a position where your social standing is perceived by others or by yourself as somewhat less than the person or persons you are trying to persuade or ridicule. Your comments can convey brutal honesty without directly challenging your adversary. I assume this is why many CEOs and government bureaucrats have no sense of humor and no skill with sarcasm. Back when Christians were a persecuted minority they were probably hilarious (life of Brian anyone).

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33. Comment #198389 by WilliamP on June 23, 2008 at 5:42 pm

Well then, the people who frequent this website will be passing on their genes.

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34. Comment #198391 by Drew on June 23, 2008 at 6:05 pm

Evolutionary Psychology is often misrepresented. Rather than suggesting that sarcasm is an evolutionary adaptation it's more likely that the researchers looked at it from the following viewpoint "If sarcasm is an evolutionary adaptation, how might it have evolved?"

Other Comments by Drew

35. Comment #198407 by Cartomancer on June 23, 2008 at 7:36 pm

Comment #198367, Steve Zara

Oh, I don't know, thanks to our feminine-patterned brains we're apparently much better at multi-tasking than the average naff. I dare say it was relatively easy in the old days to palare with the fruits while simultaneously charpering a dishy chicken for trade and still keeping a straight ecaf so as not to alert lilly.

Working out what the hell other gay people were talking about must have been a nightmare though...

Other Comments by Cartomancer

36. Comment #198413 by Brian English on June 23, 2008 at 8:09 pm

Working out what the hell other gay people were talking about must have been a nightmare though...

Genius!

Other Comments by Brian English

37. Comment #198417 by Goldy on June 23, 2008 at 8:36 pm

Comment #198407 by Cartomancer
Oh dear - tears are rolling down my face! People look at me and slowly move away...

Edit -

http://www2.prestel.co.uk/cello/Polari.htm
I had to look it up!

Other Comments by Goldy

38. Comment #198439 by SimUser on June 24, 2008 at 12:20 am

Further evidence of my better to be a Smart Ass then a Dumb Ass hypothesis.

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39. Comment #198466 by esuther on June 24, 2008 at 4:09 am

Humor certainly seems to be a feature of advanced intelligence, and to exist on a continuum. Chimps (and infants) laugh when you tickle them. Older children (and some of my, ahem, more limited, acquaintances, laugh at pratfalls, snot hanging from someone's nose, pies in the face, slapping matches, etc. As you move up the level of complexity, you get into areas which require common understanding of the 'set-up'for a joke to work. Word-play jokes only work for people adept in the language (I speak both French and German, and even when I 'get' their word-plays, they are never amusing.) Jokes based on penis size that men and some straight women -- neither category of which I belong to -- seem to find so hilarious, drop like rocks at my feet. But sarcasm I can appreciate, and would adore an evening's conversation with Cartomancer.
Of course, sarcasm too has many levels, but as it gets subtler, you have to acknowledge the wit of the one inflicting it. You can find yourself laughing along with someone who has just made fun of YOU. I quite like the subtle sarcasm of "riiiiight" and the archetypal gay sarcasm of "oh puleese."

However, one of the funniest, jokes I ever saw was a "Far Side" cartoon. It was three dinosaurs, two of them holding their bellies in derision as a small furry mammal scampered past them. One of the dinosaurs, however glances up and peers at some mysterious new substance that the reader knows is snow. The very process of studying the cartoon and slowly having the light go on in the brain, made me laugh out loud and and forward the cartoon to dozens of friends.
Far Side gets my personal "best of cartoons" prize, just as Life of Brian gets my "best ever religious critique" award. Both are sarcastic at a pretty high level.

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40. Comment #198514 by flobear on June 24, 2008 at 7:26 am

My favorite is when people need to add *sarcasm* at the end of their post to spell it out for people.

Yeah, that's really clever. *sarcasm*

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41. Comment #198535 by Epinephrine on June 24, 2008 at 8:18 am

My favorite is when people need to add *sarcasm* at the end of their post to spell it out for people.

Yeah, that's really clever. *sarcasm*

Yup, the audience must be pretty dumb if they can't detect sarcasm without paralinguistic cues.

Only an idiot would bother including such cues in text form, obviously we can communicate sarcasm fine without them.

Kruger, J., Epley, N., Parker, J., & Ng, Z. (2005). Egocentrism over e-mail: Can we communicate as well as we think? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Vol 89(6) 925-936

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42. Comment #198536 by advocatus_diaboli on June 24, 2008 at 8:21 am

Sarcasm as an evolutionary advantage? I'd always thought it a detriment. How many people have been killed for being a smartass?

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43. Comment #199443 by Dutchie on June 25, 2008 at 7:09 pm

. . . Which of course explains why atheists are thriving and theists are steadily dying out :D.

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44. Comment #200930 by leaphty on June 28, 2008 at 2:19 pm

re: Of course sarcasm is an evolutionary survival skill! It is the only way of communicating with the in-laws.

LOL. I wish I'd thought of that.

Okay, first of all, at least starting now... both of my in-laws passed away before I got divorced.

I was sarcastic in my communication with them less than the necessity for it in conversations with my ex.

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45. Comment #202895 by jimmydodam on July 2, 2008 at 5:55 am

Seems logical to me. I wish I would have thought of it. Good points indeed.

JT
http://www.ULtimate-Anonymity.com

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