Researchers from MIT’s Psychology and Behavioural Sciences department have today released a report which claims that Australia is the worst English-speaking nation in the world when it comes to detecting sarcasm. Conducted over thirteen years with a sample size in the vicinity of 50,000, the study was built on a specialized “sarcasm detection test” which called for subjects to discern whether certain statements were true or false based on intonation, facial expression and body language. “For the most part we’ve found that detecting sarcasm has become much easier.” said former Nobel Laureate and acting Dean of Psychology Augustus Twisslewaithe. “But certain nations such as Australia and Canada have actually become less adept at detecting sarcasm due to abnormally low CI ratings.”
Developed by Swedish Behavioural Economist Sven Oggarsmoard the decade-old CI metric (Cynicism Index) rates our ability to recognize “universal sarcasm tells” such as eye rolls, exaggerated hand gestures and excessively earnest intonation. With a CI rating of 3.7 (based on a possible rating out of 10), Australia ranks as the English speaking nation least likely to detect sarcasm while Canada came in at second with a rating of 4.1. Americans were the most likely to detect sarcasm with a CI rating of 8.2 while America’s East Coast was anointed the most sarcasm-prone geographic region in the world.
Well there you go.
Via MIT
