While both anger and sarcasm improved an observer’s attention to
detail, focus and speed in solving simple analytic problems, being
exposed to anger limited their ability to deal with more complex
problems that involved mental creativity, the team found. Sarcasm on the
other hand boosted their creative juices.
“When they were exposed to anger, it created ‘prevention motivation,’
or the motivation to avoid unpleasant situations or pain,”
Miron-Spektor told the Star. “It demonstrated that if you are
exposed to your boss yelling at your colleague, you will try to avoid
similar situations by working harder.”
Prevention motivation forces the brain to narrow the scope of its
attention, focusing only on relevant information and exclude unrelated
and distracting issues, according to the paper.
Because of its humorous tone, sarcasm elicits less fear in listeners
while stimulating the brain by forcing it to decipher the literal
meaning of what the speaker is saying along with the underlying
hostility of the message.
“I would like to stress that (the positive creative result) is
compared to anger. It is not that sarcasm is a good thing, period. It is
good compared to anger, but too much sarcasm and can be problematic,”
Miron-Spektor told the Star.
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