Skip to main content

Witty repartee is 'socially dazzling' and charismatic




In social situations, people reveal that a witty repartee is ‘socially dazzling’ and charismatic. Wit is defined as ‘inventive verbal humour’ and repartee is the art of conversation that is rapid and interesting. A new study in the Psychological Science journal showed that people are drawn to those who are proficient at witty repartee (The Atlantic, December 4, 2015, in the Health section). What exactly is it about witty repartee that is socially dazzling and charismatic?

Researchers from the University of Queensland in Australia and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands conducted a study in which they recruited groups of friends from a college campus. Each member of each group was required to rate each other on charisma and social skills. Each person was also given an intelligence assessment and several personality tests. To assess their mental speed, each person answered 30 common-knowledge questions as fast as they could, and a computerised ‘find the dot on the screen’ test as quickly as they could, and a test to identify pairs of patterns quickly. Mental speed is different (and not connected to) intelligence (IQ), general knowledge, or personality.

The results revealed that the people with fast mental speed were also the ones more likely to be rated highly charismatic by their friends. It was the speed of the conversation that others rated highly (not necessarily the content or substance!). People equated speed of speech with being dazzling and charismatic.

Interestingly, researchers noted that mental speed did not necessarily mean that people had high social skills. Also, mental speed did not mean that the people were smarter than others with slower mental speed. Rather, it just meant that people who could engage a high rate of mental speed – a witty repartee - had lots of charisma, not necessarily brains or social graces.

Researchers think mental speed enables people to judge situational demands rapidly, consider a wide repertoire of responses, hide inappropriate initial reactions by rapidly presenting a non-dominant response, and make time-sensitive funny associations. Further research might consider exactly how mental speed facilitates charismatic behaviour – because it seems, to the researchers, that having access to a wider number of social responses within an quick window of opportunity leads to the perception of a charismatic personality.

Image credit: Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Le dejeuner des canotiers – Luncheon of the Boating Party (1880)


http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/12/quick-thinkers-seem-charismatic-even-if-theyre-not-that-smart/418629/
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The acacia thorn trees of Kenya

There are nearly 800 species of acacia trees in the world, and most don’t have thorns. The famous "whistling thorn tree" and the Umbrella Thorn tree of Kenya are species of acacia that do have thorns, or spines. Giraffes and other herbivores normally eat thorny acacia foliage, but leave the whistling thorn alone. Usually spines are no deterrent to giraffes. Their long tongues are adapted to strip the leaves from the branches despite the thorns. The thorny acacia like dry and hot conditions. The thorns typically occur in pairs and are 5-8 centimetres (2-3 inches) long. Spines can be straight or curved depending on the species. MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Suda...
1 comment
Read more

Hop on hop off bus tourism comes to Tbilisi, Georgia

City Sightseeing buses have arrived in Tbilisi. The iconic red double-decker buses, a feature of many cities around the world since the company was established in Seville, Spain in 1999, is now in six continents and almost 100 cities. The company established its Tbilisi business in November 2013, with its operations commencing in February 2014. The 90-minute tour stops at 11 major locations in Tbilisi (with 2 to 5 minute waiting times at each location): the Old City (where it commences), Freedom Square, Rose Revolution Square, Marjanishvili Square, the Dry Bridge, Konka, Avlabari, Metekhi, Akhundov Museum, the Sulfur Baths, and European Square. Passengers can hop off at any stop and see the sights, hopping back onto the next bus at any time. Alternatively, passengers can remain on the bus for the whole tour and take photographs when the bus stops at each location. There are one day (24-hour) passes (for 35 lari – about $20) and 48-hour passes for 55 lari, with family d...
2 comments
Read more

The Knight in the Panther Skin by Shota Rustaveli (2015 translation): book review

The Knight in the Panther Skin (12th century, this edition 2015) is a recent translation by American poet and author, Lyn Coffin. The author, Shota Rustaveli, is Georgia’s most loved poet. This poem is mammoth, a magnum opus – it is 1,656 verses long, separated by chapters. But readers, don’t give up, because every verse is worth reading. It is akin to 1001 Arabian Knights, Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, or Shakespearean poetry. King Rostevan of Arabia has a daughter, Tinatin. She loves the knight Avtandil and he loves her. Verse 368 from Avtandil: ‘The doctor’s could do nothing. A dark twilight on my heart now pressed, I was on fire because of love, but nobody knew or guessed. They blamed my blood. The king decided bleeding my arm would be best; I let it be done to hide the suffering I had not confessed.’ But a knight in panther skin is seen weeping, and subsequently kills the king’s soldiers, sparing the king. Before Tinatin weds Avtandil she r...
Post a Comment
Read more