Extending the study of gelotophobia: On gelotophiles and katagelasticists

Abstract

In Ruch and Proyer (2008a), the fear of being laughed at (gelotophobia) was introduced as a new individual di¤erences phenomenon. In this article, two new laughter-related concepts are presented: gelotophilia (the joy of being laughed at) and katagelasticism (the joy of laughing at others). The main aim of the present article was an empirical verification of these three concepts. Data analyses from a construction (N ¼ 390) and a replication sample (N ¼ 157) led to a three factor solution for the data comprising the three concepts. Intercorrelations among the three groups suggest that there is a negative correlation between gelotophiles and gelotophobes and a positive relation between gelotophiles and katagelasticists. The correlation coe‰cients, however, indicate that there is a relation but that the concepts are not interchangeable. A reliable and stable standard 45-item questionnaire (PhoPhiKat-45) and an economic short form of 30 items (PhoPhiKat-30) for the assessment of the three concepts are presented. Additionally, it was shown that, contrary to what had to be expected from early literature on gelotophobia, remembered experiences of having been laughed at by parents and peers in childhood and youth cannot be considered as major contributors to the development of gelotophobic symptoms as an adult (the same is true for gelotophilia and katagelasticism). However, gelotophobes tended to remember more events of having been ridiculed by their father. Suggestions for future research and conceptual developments are given.

Individual differences in gelotophobia and responses to laughter-eliciting emotions

“…As gelotophobes have been reported to retreat from social situations (see Ruch et al, 2014 for a review) they will be less likely to engage in tactile pleasure and experience it as intense. The higher intensity of schadenfreude is convergent with the finding that gelotophobes often show increased anger and aggressive tendencies (see Weiss et al, 2012), as well as the finding that subgroups of gelotophobes also have heightened scores in katagelasticism (the joy of laughing at others; Ruch & Proyer, 2009b). Interestingly, gelotophobes did not differ from nongelotophobes in the decoding of aversiveness towards laughter-eliciting emotions.…”

“…Studies on katagelasticism (the joy of laughing at others; see Ruch & Proyer, 2009b), however, have shown a zero correlation between katagelasticism and gelotophobia, indicating that at least a subgroup of gelotophobes enjoys laughing at others too. This might be reflected in the current results.…”

How does psychopathy relate to humor and laughter? Dispositions toward ridicule and being laughed at, the sense of humor, and psychopathic personality traits

“…Next to the sense of humor, the way people deal with laughter and being laughed at was examined. Ruch and Proyer (2009a) proposed three different disposition towards ridicule and being laughed at: (a) gelotophobia (the fear of being laughed at; i.e., the conviction of appearing ridiculous to others; they do not appreciate laughter and smiling as something positive; cf. Ruch & Proyer, 2008; (b) gelotophilia (the joy in being laughed at; enjoy laughter by others even at the own expense; do not feel ashamed when sharing embarrassing mishaps); and (c) katagelasticism (the joy in laughing at others; do not feel that there is anything wrong in laughing at others; see situations in which they can make others the butt of joke).…”

“…It has already been used in a broad variety of studies from testing people with Asperger's Syndrome (Samson, Huber, & Ruch, 2011) to geriatric populations . Ruch and Proyer (2009a) describe katagelasticists with a somewhat rude and antisocial (not as a clinical category though) component. They were shown to be relatively guilt-free (Proyer, Platt, & Ruch, 2010).…”

“…Thus, a positive relation between psychopathic personality traits and katagelasticism but also (to a lower degree) with gelotophilia was expected. The latter primarily because of the description of gelotophilia given by Ruch and Proyer (2009a) from which, one might assume that when interacting in a charming way with others this presumably facilitates the chance of raising laughs in others (more easily creating a playful frame of mind in the sense of McGhee, 1999McGhee, , 2010.…”