Gelotophilia is the joy of being laughed at. Gelotophiles are people who actively seek and establish situations in which others may laugh at them. They gain joy from these situations and do not feel embarrassed. Gelotophiles speak frankly about misfortunes and mishaps but also about situations in which they acted stupidly or produced something that was involuntarily funny. Typically, they would not mind if they were caught on camera while something funny (yet potentially embarrassing) happened to them and this was sent to a TV program that shows such clips or if it was uploaded to websites such as
YouTube or the like.
The empirical study of gelotophilia started in 2009 when the first
academic paper on this topic has been published. Along with
gelotophobia and
katagelasticism
Katagelasticism is a psychological condition in which a person excessively enjoys laughing at others. Katagelasticists actively seek and establish situations in which they can laugh at others (at the expense of these people). There is a broad varie ...
it can be measured through a questionnaire that consists of 45 questions (the PhoPhiKat-45; the PhoPhiKat-30 is a short form that consists of 30 items). This is a reliable and valid instrument that has been used in a variety of studies.
[Proyer, R. T., Hempelmann, C. F., & Ruch, W. (2009). Were they really laughed at? That much? Gelotophobes and their history of perceived derisibility. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, 22(1-2), 213-231.]
Gelotophobia, gelotophilia, and katagelasticism describe three different stances towards laughter and laughing at.
Empirical studies with the PhoPhiKat-45 show that, of course, people can not at the same time fear and like being laughed at (i.e., be gelotophobes and gelotophiles at the same time). However, there is at least a subgroup of gelotophobes that enjoys laughing at others, despite knowing how harmful this can be. Finally, gelotophilia and katagelasticism are positively related; i.e., those who enjoy being laughed at might also enjoy laughing at others.
References
Further reading
* Ruch, W., Beermann, U., & Proyer, R. T. (2009)
Investigating the humor of gelotophobes: Does feeling ridiculous equal being humorless? Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, 22(1-2), 111-143.
* Ruch, W., & Proyer, R. T. (2009)
Extending the study of gelotophobia: On gelotophiles and katagelasticists Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, 22(1-2), 183-212.
* Proyer, R. T., Hempelmann, C. F., & Ruch, W. (2009)
Were they really laughed at? That much? Gelotophobes and their history of perceived derisibility{Dead link, date=December 2019 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes . Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, 22(1-2), 213-231.
* Proyer, R. T., & Ruch, W. (2010)
Dispositions towards ridicule and being laughed at: Current research on gelotophobia, gelotophilia, and katagelasticism (Editorial to Special Issue). Psychological Test and Assessment Modeling, 52(1), 49-59.
External links
gelotophobia assessment and research association websiteWebsite on gelotophobia, by Tracey PlattSpecial Issue on gelotophobia in Humor: International Journal of Humor Research (1-2/2008)When humor humiliates, by Susan Guidos (Science news)Special issue in Psychological Test and Assessment modeling entitled Dispositions towards ridicule and being laughed at: Current research on gelotophobia, gelotophilia, and katagelasticism; open access
Laughter