[Sarcasm] appears to stimulate complex thinking and to attenuate the otherwise negative effects of anger
— Miron-Spektor et al., 2011. Others’ anger makes people work harder not smarter: The effect of observing anger and sarcasm on creative and analytic thinking. in J. Applied Psychology via Smithsonian Magazine.
If there’s anyone for whom sarcasm is a primary language, it’s probably adolescents. It can be used to bully or put down, but, according to Richard Chin (2011), is more often used among friends; a bit like positive aspects of teasing.
Chin has a good article that looks over recent research into how sarcasm works on Smithsonian.com.
Apparently, sarcasm exercises the brain more than regular comments:
… observing anger communicated through sarcasm enhances complex thinking and solving of creative problems”