Vulnerable narcissism is related to the fear of being laughed at and to the joy of laughing at others

Ana Blasco-Belled,Radosław Rogoza,Carles Alsinet

doi:10.1016/j.paid.2022.111536

Abstract

Vulnerable narcissism is associated to the fear of criticism and rejection; however, to date no investigation assessed its relations to the dispositions towards ridicule and laughter, which is scrutinized in the current paper. The dispositions towards ridicule and laughter could be conceptualized as three distinct types of humor traits: gelotophobia (the fear of being laughed at), gelotophilia (the joy of being laughed at), and katagelasticism (the joy of laughing at others). We expected that, according to the complex structure of vulnerable narcissism, it would be positively related to gelotophobia and katagelasticism, reflecting social withdrawal on the one hand, and antagonistic orientation towards people on the other. The results supported our hypotheses, providing further evidence to the complex structure of vulnerable narcissism.

Highlights

IntroductionGiven that vulnerable narcissism fulfills the criteria of a) deliberate malevolence (i.e., antagonistic attitude to wards others; Rogoza, Cieciuch, & Strus, 2022), b) callousness (i.e., lack of empathy; Zajenkowski & Szymaniak, 2019), and c) interpersonal manipulation (Tortoriello et al, 2017), it is considered as a so-called dark personality trait (Rogoza, Kowalski, et al, 2022)
Vulnerable narcissism is associated to the fear of criticism and rejection; to date no investigation assessed its relations to the dispositions towards ridicule and laughter, which is scrutinized in the current paper
We expected that, according to the complex structure of vulnerable narcissism, it would be positively related to gelotophobia and katagelasticism, reflecting social withdrawal on the one hand, and antagonistic orientation towards people on the other

Summary

Introduction

Given that vulnerable narcissism fulfills the criteria of a) deliberate malevolence (i.e., antagonistic attitude to wards others; Rogoza, Cieciuch, & Strus, 2022), b) callousness (i.e., lack of empathy; Zajenkowski & Szymaniak, 2019), and c) interpersonal manipulation (Tortoriello et al, 2017), it is considered as a so-called dark personality trait (Rogoza, Kowalski, et al, 2022). Within the study of humor, the dispositions towards ridicule and laughter present a model that encompass three individual differences variables: gelotophobia, gelotophilia, and katagelasticism (Ruch & Proyer, 2009). Katagelasticism refers to the joy of laughing at others In this case, in dividuals might take pleasure from putting others down and might exploit others’ mishaps without caring about their reactions as a byproduct of their desire to laugh at them.

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