Humor style predicts sarcasm use – evidence from Turkish speakers

Abstract Humor and sarcasm are closely related – sarcasm is often identified with aggressive humor or humorous mockery. Research in this area is common in Western European languages, but not in non-WEIRD populations. The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between humor styles and sarcasm use in the Turkish-speaking population. We also attempted to predict the use of different sarcasm types (general sarcasm, embarrassment diffusion, face-saving, and frustration diffusion) by the scores of the Humor Styles Questionnaire (Martin, Rod A., Patricia Puhlik-Doris, Gwen Larsen, Jeanette Gray & Kelly Weir. 2003. Individual differences in uses of humor and their relation to psychological well-being: Development of the Humor Styles Questionnaire. Journal of Research in Personality 37(1). 48–75) scales (aggressive, affiliative, self-enhancing, and self-defeating humor). The data from 329 Turkish-speaking participants were collected: 250 women and 79 men (Mage = 37; SD = 12.32; age range: 18–70). Participants filled out online questionnaires including Sarcasm Self-Report Scale (Ivanko, Stacey L., Penny M. Pexman & Kara M. Olineck. 2004. How sarcastic are you? Individual differences and verbal irony. Journal of Language and Social Psychology 23(3). 244–271) adapted into Turkish, and the Humor Styles Questionnaire (Martin, Rod A., Patricia Puhlik-Doris, Gwen Larsen, Jeanette Gray & Kelly Weir. 2003. Individual differences in uses of humor and their relation to psychological well-being: Development of the Humor Styles Questionnaire. Journal of Research in Personality 37(1). 48–75) in Turkish adaptation (Tümkaya, Songül. 2011. Humor styles and socio-demographic variables as predictor of subjective well-being of Turkish university students. Egitim ve Bilim 36(160). 158–170). The results showed positive correlations between all humor styles and all sarcasm types, with the strongest correlation with aggressive humor. Regression analysis was used to find predictors of sarcasm use. Our results show that aggressive humor style is the main predictor of all self-reported sarcasm use scales.