W krzywym zwierciadle ironii i autoironii. O kobietach i mężczyznach nie wprost

The distorted lens of irony and self-mockery. A gender comparison

This book presents three psychological experiments on men and women. The goal was to establish how gender, self-esteem and anxiety impact the production and perception of verbal irony and self-mockery. Further, the research analyzes the role of non-verbal language in self-identification. The experiments show that irony (‘blame by praise’ or ‘praise by blame’) are not only hinged on two linguistic levels: literal and implied; but also on gender. Though the grammatical form of the Polish word irony (“ironia”) is feminine, we find it is used more by men. Men produce more irony than women and use it in a more playful way. For women, irony is associated with spitefulness. Higher self-esteem and lower anxiety are also predictors of the use of self-mockery. The authors place a special focus on the importance of emotions in irony use and processing. The results of this research allow for the presentation of a new model of irony as a defensive mechanism for self-regulation of emotion.

Keywords: irony, self-mockery, sex, gender, stereotype, self-esteem, anxiety, humour, emotions.

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