The Fear of Being Laughed at in Switzerland

Samson, Andrea C.; Proyer, René T.; Ceschi, Grazia; Pedrini, Pier Paolo; Ruch, Willibald

doi:10.1024/1421-0185/a000039

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Journal article

The Fear of Being Laughed at in Switzerland

Samson, Andrea C. University of Fribourg, Switzerland and Stanford University, CA, USA
Proyer, René T. University of Zurich, Switzerland
Ceschi, Grazia University of Geneva, Switzerland
Pedrini, Pier Paolo University of Lugano, Switzerland
Ruch, Willibald University of Zurich, Switzerland

Published in:

Swiss Journal of Psychology. - Hogrefe Publishing Group. - 2011, vol. 70, no. 2, p. 53-62

General Psychology

English This study compares the characteristics and possible causes of gelotophobia (the fear of being laughed at) in different parts of Switzerland. In addition, we examined how gelotophobia was related to variables of positive psychological functioning. The first study (N = 1,006) revealed that gelotophobia can be found in all language regions of Switzerland with an approximate prevalence of 5%. The results suggest that cultural background is more relevant for the development of gelotophobia than the language spoken in the respective area. The second study (N = 196) showed gelotophobia to be negatively related to subjective well-being, grit (i.e., a perseverance and passion for long-term goals), gratitude, cognitive aspects of subjective well-being, and subjective happiness. Variables of positive psychological functioning contribute to the understanding of the experiential world of gelotophobes, but might also be relevant when developing interventions to alleviate the fear of being laughed at.

Language

English

Open access status

closed

Identifiers

DOI 10.1024/1421-0185/a000039
ISSN 1421-0185

Persistent URL

https://sonar.rero.ch/global/documents/121828

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