Eye Contact and Fear of Being Laughed at in a Gaze Discrimination Task

Abstract

Current approaches conceptualize gelotophobia as a personality trait characterized by a disproportionate fear of being laughed at by others. Consistently with this perspective, gelotophobes are also described as neurotic and introverted and as having a paranoid tendency to anticipate derision and mockery situations. Although research on gelotophobia has significantly progressed over the past two decades, no evidence exists concerning the potential effects of gelotophobia in reaction to eye contact. Previous research has pointed to difficulties in discriminating gaze direction as the basis of possible misinterpretations of others’ intentions or mental states. The aim of the present research was to examine whether gelotophobia predisposition modulates the effects of eye contact (i.e., gaze discrimination) when processing faces portraying several emotional expressions. In two different experiments, participants performed an experimental gaze discrimination task in which they responded, as quickly and accurately as possible, to the eyes’ directions on faces displaying either a happy, angry, fear, neutral, or sad emotional expression. In particular, we expected trait-gelotophobia to modulate the eye contact effect, showing specific group differences in the happiness condition. The results of Study 1 (N = 40) indicated that gelotophobes made more errors than non-gelotophobes did in the gaze discrimination task. In contrast to our initial hypothesis, the happiness expression did not have any special role in the observed differences between individuals with high vs. low trait-gelotophobia. In Study 2 (N = 40), we replicated the pattern of data concerning gaze discrimination ability, even after controlling for individuals’ scores on social anxiety. Furthermore, in our second experiment, we found that gelotophobes did not exhibit any problem with identifying others’ emotions, or a general incorrect attribution of affective features, such as valence, intensity, or arousal. Therefore, this bias in processing gaze might be related to the global processes of social cognition. Further research is needed to explore how eye contact relates to the fear of being laughed at.

Arrows don’t look at you: Qualitatively different attentional mechanisms triggered by gaze and arrows

“…This dissociation is difficult to reconcile with the domain-general view of attentional processes. The opposite congruency effects for gaze and arrows have been replicated in subsequent experiments in our laboratory (Roman-Caballero, Marotta, Martin-Arevalo, & Lupiañez, 2017), and other studies have found that the reversed congruency effect is modulated by the emotional expression of a face when the whole face instead of just the eyes is used as the target (Jones, 2015;Torres-Marín, Carretero-Dios, Acosta, & Lupiáñez, 2017), thus supporting the social nature of the effect.…”

Spatial interference triggered by gaze and arrows. The role of target background on spatial interference

“…This surprising result was opposite to the classical spatial Stroop effect generally observed with non-social stimuli like arrows or words (e.g., faster reaction time for congruent conditions; Lu & Proctor, 1995). Other research groups have replicated this reversed congruency effect (Edwards et al, 2020;Jones, 2015), and further investigation has revealed that this effect is found both when eyes were embedded in a whole face (Jones, 2015;Torres-Marín et al, 2017) or presented alone (Cañadas & Lupiáñez, 2012), and is modulated by the emotional expression of the face (Jones, 2015;Torres-Marín et al, 2017).…”

Joint attention facilitates observed gaze direction discrimination

“…For example, there is conflicting evidence regarding how approach and avoidance emotions in the gazing face affects the processing of off-centre inward gaze (cf. Jones, 2015; Torres-Marín, Carretero-Dios, Acosta, & Lupiáñez, 2017). Furthermore, Torres-Marin et al (2017) found that participants’ level of Gelotophobia (fear of being laughed at), which should relate to the sensitivity to direct gaze, did not affect gaze identification in a paradigm similar to that used here.…”

“…Jones, 2015; Torres-Marín, Carretero-Dios, Acosta, & Lupiáñez, 2017). Furthermore, Torres-Marin et al (2017) found that participants’ level of Gelotophobia (fear of being laughed at), which should relate to the sensitivity to direct gaze, did not affect gaze identification in a paradigm similar to that used here. Taken together with our demonstration of the importance of the looked-at object, it therefore appears that the misattribution of direct gaze can no longer account for these interesting data.…”