Lees Niet Verder! Ga Iets Nuttigs Doen

In this research, we investigated the influence of co-text (the text of which an utterance is part of) on the processing of ironic evaluations. In an experiment, we adapted and manipulated fragments from film, book and music reviews. Participants randomly read versions with either two ironie evaluations, two literal evaluations, or an ironie evaluation preceded by a literal evaluation. Findings show that literal evaluations (such as "we don't want to hear the local brass band play at a rock festival") were read faster than ironie evaluations (such as "we all love to hear the local brass band play at a rock festival"). However, ironie evaluations were read faster if they were marked by a preceding ironie evaluation. Fragments of negative reviews were interpreted as less negative if they contained irony. Irony thus muted criticism. In addition, appreciation of the reviews was higher if fragments contained two ironie evaluations.