A Structural Equation Model Study on the Cognitive Factors of Irony Processing

Irony processing has always been a hot issue in experimental pragmatics. Existing studies have found out many cognitive factors contributing irony processing with unique paths and contribution rate of their own. Structural equation model can clearly demonstrate the exact path and contribution rate of each factor to irony processing, namely the need for cognition, empathy ability, sarcasm preference and working memory capacity. Three offline questionnaires on the need for cognition, empathy ability and sarcasm preference and two online tests of working memory capacity and irony processing have been conducted. Two hypotheses are verified through hierarchical linear modeling and structural equation modeling. Statistic results show that the four cognitive factors all exert positive effect on irony processing, with sarcasm preference exerting a direct effect while the need for cognition showing an indirect effect through the mediation of working memory capacity and empathy ability respectively, which is of great significance to the teaching of linguistics and rhetorics.