It’s (More Than) Personal: The Mediating Role of Comic Styles Between Personality and Irony/Sarcasm Use

In the present study, we examined the role of comic styles in mediating the relationship between personality traits and the use of verbal irony/sarcasm. We tested a group of 848 participants from the UK, Canada, and the USA with the Comic Style Markers (CSM) and the Sarcasm Self-Report Scale (SSS). We found that comic styles significantly influence how personality traits such as neuroticism, agreeableness, and openness to experience/intellect affect the use of sarcasm and irony. These results suggest that the connection between personality and humor use is complex, with comic styles altering the direct influence of personality traits. By showing how specific comic styles can amplify or reduce the effects of personality on humor use, our study challenges the straightforward linkage of personality traits to humor styles.