SITUATIONAL IRONY - A CONCEPT OF EVENTS GONE AWRY

An event can be classified as situationally ironic when it deviates fr om routine in certain ways. In Study 1, a taxonomy of situational iron ic event kinds was developed and features of these events were identif ied. Features included unexpectedness, human frailty, opposition, and outcome (the experience of loss or win). Study 2, category production, and Study 3, goodness-of-exemplar ratings, showed that individuals ha ve a situational irony concept, consisting of representations of event kinds. These events exhibit typifying features, giving the concept gr aded structure. On this basis, knowledge of ironic events is claimed t o be a form of event knowledge, along with but distinct from the event schema or script. The processing of ironic events, their relation to humorous and tragic events, and the relation between situational and v erbal irony are discussed.