Abstract
The current paper addresses the measurement of three dispositions toward ridicule and laughter; i.e., gelotophobia (the fear of being laughed at), gelotophilia (the joy of being laughed at), and katagelasticism (the joy of laughing at others). These traits explain inter-individual differences in responses to humor, laughter, and social situations related to humorous encounters. First, an ultra-short form of the PhoPhiKat-45 (Ruch and Proyer, 2009) was adapted in two independent samples (Construction Sample N = 157; Replication Sample N = 1,774). Second, we tested the validity of the PhoPhiKat-9 in two further independent samples. Results showed that the psychometric properties of the ultra-short form were acceptable and the proposed factor structure could be replicated. In Validation Sample 1 (N = 246), we investigated the relation of the three traits to responses in a ridicule and teasing scenario questionnaire. The results replicated findings from earlier studies by showing that gelotophobes assigned the same emotions to friendly teasing and malicious ridicule (predominantly low joy, high fear, and shame). Gelotophilia was mainly predicted by relating joy to both, teasing and ridicule scenarios, while katagelasticism was predicted by assigning joy and contempt to ridicule scenarios. In Validation Sample 2 (N = 1,248), we investigated whether the fear of being laughed at is a vulnerability at the workplace: If friendly teasing and laughter of co-workers, superiors, or customers are misperceived as being malicious, individuals may feel less satisfied and more stressed. The results from a representative sample of Swiss employees showed that individuals with a fear of being laughed at are generally less satisfied with life and work and experience more work stress. Moreover, gelotophilia went along with positive evaluations of one's life and work, while katagelasticism was negatively related to work satisfaction and positively related to work stress. In order to establish good work practices and build procedures against workplace bullying, one needs to consider that individual differences impact on a person's perception of being bullied and assessing the three dispositions may give important insights into team processes.
Highlights
Humor and laughter are commonly viewed as positively valued, empirical evidence suggests individual differences in the perception of laughter and laughter-related events
In a first step, we investigated whether individuals above the cut-off point for gelotophobia would show similar response patterns of feeling high negative emotions and low joy when confronted with ridicule and teasing scenarios
In terms of construction of the PhoPhiKat-9, all three dispositions can be reliably assessed with this ultra-short form
Summary
Humor and laughter are commonly viewed as positively valued, empirical evidence suggests individual differences in the perception of laughter and laughter-related events (see Ruch et al, 2014). They see humor and laughter as negative, aversive, and directed toward them in a malicious way (see e.g., Ruch and Proyer, 2008a; Ruch et al, 2014) They respond to both, friendly teasing and malicious ridicule with higher felt shame, fear, and low joy in predefined scenarios of ridicule and teasing. They do not emotionally distinguish between the different contexts (Platt, 2008). Gelotophobes screen social interaction partners for signs of derision, and often show paranoid tendencies toward being laughed at They further display disproportionate negative responses toward anticipated ridicule. Gelotophobes experience marked heart rate deceleration when hearing laughter (indicating a “freezing-like” response; Papousek et al, 2014)
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