Breaking ground in cross-cultural research on the fear of being laughed at (gelotophobia): A multi-national study involving 73 countries

René T. Proyer; Willibald Ruch; Numan S. Ali; Hmoud S. Al-Olimat; Toshihiko Amemiya; Tamirie Andualem Adal; Sadia Aziz Ansari; Pela Arhar; Gigi Asem; Nicolas Baudin; Souha Bawab; Doris Bergen; Ingrid Brdar; Rute Brites; Marina Brunner-Sciarra; Amy Carrell; Hugo Carretero Dios; Mehmet Celik; Grazia Ceschi; Kay Chang; Chen Guo-Hai; Alexander Cheryomukhin; Maria P.Y. Chik; Wladyslaw Chlopicki; Jacquelyn Cranney; Donatien Dahourou; Sibe Doosje; Margherita Dore; Nahwat El-Arousy; Emilia Fickova; Martin Führ; Joanne Gallivan; Han Geling; Lydia Germikova; Marija Giedraityte; Abe Goh; Rebeca Díaz González; Sai Kin Ho; Martina Hrebícková; Belen Jaime; Birgit Hertzberg Kaare; Shanmukh Kamble; Shahe Kazarian; Paavo Kerkkänen; Mirka Klementová; Irina M. Kobozeva; Snjezana Kovjanic; Narasappa Kumaraswamy; Martin Lampert; Chao Chih Liao; Manon Levesque; Eleni Loizou; Rolando Díaz Loving; Jim Lyttle; Vera C. MacHline; Sean McGoldrick; Margaret McRorie; Liu Min; René Mõttus; Margret M. Munyae; Carmen Elvira Navia; Mathero Nkhalamba; Pier Paolo Pedrini; Mirsolava Petkova; Tracey Platt; Diana Elena Popa; Anna Radomska; Tabassum Rashid; David Rawlings; Victor J. Rubio; Andrea C. Samson; Orly Sarid; Soraya Shams; Sek Sisokohm; Jakob Smári; Ian Sneddon; Irena Snikhovska; Ekaterina A. Stephanenko; Ieva Stokenberga; Hugo Stuer; Yohana Sherly Rosalina Tanoto; Luis Tapia; Julia Taylor; Pascal Thibault; Ava Thompson; Hanna Thörn; Hiroshi Toyota; Judit Ujlaky; Vitanya Vanno; Jun Wang; Betsie Van Der Westhuizen; Deepani Wijayathilake; Peter S.O. Wong; Edgar B. Wycoff; Eun Ja Yeun

doi:10.1515/HUMR.2009.012

Breaking ground in cross-cultural research on the fear of being laughed at (gelotophobia): A multi-national study involving 73 countries

René T. Proyer, Willibald Ruch, Numan S. Ali, Hmoud S. Al-Olimat, Toshihiko Amemiya, Tamirie Andualem Adal, Sadia Aziz Ansari, Pela Arhar, Gigi Asem, Nicolas Baudin, Souha Bawab, Doris Bergen, Ingrid Brdar, Rute Brites, Marina Brunner-Sciarra, Amy Carrell, Hugo Carretero Dios, Mehmet Celik, Grazia Ceschi, Kay ChangChen Guo-Hai, Alexander Cheryomukhin, Maria P.Y. Chik, Wladyslaw Chlopicki, Jacquelyn Cranney, Donatien Dahourou, Sibe Doosje, Margherita Dore, Nahwat El-Arousy, Emilia Fickova, Martin Führ, Joanne Gallivan, Han Geling, Lydia Germikova, Marija Giedraityte, Abe Goh, Rebeca Díaz González, Sai Kin Ho, Martina Hrebícková, Belen Jaime, Birgit Hertzberg Kaare, Shanmukh Kamble, Shahe Kazarian, Paavo Kerkkänen, Mirka Klementová, Irina M. Kobozeva, Snjezana Kovjanic, Narasappa Kumaraswamy, Martin Lampert, Chao Chih Liao, Manon Levesque, Eleni Loizou, Rolando Díaz Loving, Jim Lyttle, Vera C. MacHline, Sean McGoldrick, Margaret McRorie, Liu Min, René Mõttus, Margret M. Munyae, Carmen Elvira Navia, Mathero Nkhalamba, Pier Paolo Pedrini, Mirsolava Petkova, Tracey Platt, Diana Elena Popa, Anna Radomska, Tabassum Rashid, David Rawlings, Victor J. Rubio, Andrea C. Samson, Orly Sarid, Soraya Shams, Sek Sisokohm, Jakob Smári, Ian Sneddon, Irena Snikhovska, Ekaterina A. Stephanenko, Ieva Stokenberga, Hugo Stuer, Yohana Sherly Rosalina Tanoto, Luis Tapia, Julia Taylor, Pascal Thibault, Ava Thompson, Hanna Thörn, Hiroshi Toyota, Judit Ujlaky, Vitanya Vanno, Jun Wang, Betsie Van Der Westhuizen, Deepani Wijayathilake, Peter S.O. Wong, Edgar B. Wycoff, Eun Ja Yeun

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › peer-review

65 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The current study examines whether the fear of being laughed at (gelotophobia) can be assessed reliably and validly by means of a self-report instrument in different countries of the world. All items of the GELOPH (Ruch and Titze 1998; Ruch and Proyer 2008b) were translated to the local language of the collaborator (42 languages in total). In total, 22,610 participants in 93 samples from 73 countries completed the GELOPH. Across all samples the reliability of the 15-item questionnaire was high (mean alpha of .85) and in all samples the scales appeared to be unidimensional. The endorsement rates for the items ranged from 1.31% through 80.00% to a single item. Variations in the mean scores of the items were more strongly related to the culture in a country and not to the language in which the data were collected. This was also supported by a multidimensional scaling analysis with standardized mean scores of the items from the GELOPH〈15〉. This analysis identified two dimensions that further helped explaining the data (i.e., insecure vs. intense avoidant-restrictive and low vs. high suspicious tendencies towards the laughter of others). Furthermore, multiple samples derived from one country tended to be (with a few exceptions) highly similar. The study shows that gelotophobia can be assessed reliably by means of a self-report instrument in cross-cultural research. This study enables further studies of the fear of being laughed at with regard to differences in the prevalence and putative causes of gelotophobia in comparisons to different cultures.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	253-279
Number of pages	27
Journal	Humor
Volume	22
Issue number	1-2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1515/HUMR.2009.012
Publication status	Published - Feb 2009

Scopus Subject Areas

Language and Linguistics
Sociology and Political Science
Linguistics and Language
General Psychology

User-Defined Keywords

Cross-cultural comparisons
Gelotophobia
Humor
Laughter
Multi-national study

Access to Document

10.1515/HUMR.2009.012

Cite this

Proyer, R. T., Ruch, W., Ali, N. S., Al-Olimat, H. S., Amemiya, T., Adal, T. A., Ansari, S. A., Arhar, P., Asem, G., Baudin, N., Bawab, S., Bergen, D., Brdar, I., Brites, R., Brunner-Sciarra, M., Carrell, A., Dios, H. C., Celik, M., Ceschi, G., ... Yeun, E. J. (2009). Breaking ground in cross-cultural research on the fear of being laughed at (gelotophobia): A multi-national study involving 73 countries. Humor, 22(1-2), 253-279. https://doi.org/10.1515/HUMR.2009.012

@article{852b32ad8e7b434cae6fc57d11cf8b6c,

title = "Breaking ground in cross-cultural research on the fear of being laughed at (gelotophobia): A multi-national study involving 73 countries",

abstract = "The current study examines whether the fear of being laughed at (gelotophobia) can be assessed reliably and validly by means of a self-report instrument in different countries of the world. All items of the GELOPH (Ruch and Titze 1998; Ruch and Proyer 2008b) were translated to the local language of the collaborator (42 languages in total). In total, 22,610 participants in 93 samples from 73 countries completed the GELOPH. Across all samples the reliability of the 15-item questionnaire was high (mean alpha of .85) and in all samples the scales appeared to be unidimensional. The endorsement rates for the items ranged from 1.31% through 80.00% to a single item. Variations in the mean scores of the items were more strongly related to the culture in a country and not to the language in which the data were collected. This was also supported by a multidimensional scaling analysis with standardized mean scores of the items from the GELOPH〈15〉. This analysis identified two dimensions that further helped explaining the data (i.e., insecure vs. intense avoidant-restrictive and low vs. high suspicious tendencies towards the laughter of others). Furthermore, multiple samples derived from one country tended to be (with a few exceptions) highly similar. The study shows that gelotophobia can be assessed reliably by means of a self-report instrument in cross-cultural research. This study enables further studies of the fear of being laughed at with regard to differences in the prevalence and putative causes of gelotophobia in comparisons to different cultures.",

keywords = "Cross-cultural comparisons, Gelotophobia, Humor, Laughter, Multi-national study",

author = "Proyer, {Ren{\'e} T.} and Willibald Ruch and Ali, {Numan S.} and Al-Olimat, {Hmoud S.} and Toshihiko Amemiya and Adal, {Tamirie Andualem} and Ansari, {Sadia Aziz} and Pela Arhar and Gigi Asem and Nicolas Baudin and Souha Bawab and Doris Bergen and Ingrid Brdar and Rute Brites and Marina Brunner-Sciarra and Amy Carrell and Dios, {Hugo Carretero} and Mehmet Celik and Grazia Ceschi and Kay Chang and Chen Guo-Hai and Alexander Cheryomukhin and Chik, {Maria P.Y.} and Wladyslaw Chlopicki and Jacquelyn Cranney and Donatien Dahourou and Sibe Doosje and Margherita Dore and Nahwat El-Arousy and Emilia Fickova and Martin F{\"u}hr and Joanne Gallivan and Han Geling and Lydia Germikova and Marija Giedraityte and Abe Goh and Gonz{\'a}lez, {Rebeca D{\'i}az} and Ho, {Sai Kin} and Martina Hreb{\'i}ckov{\'a} and Belen Jaime and Kaare, {Birgit Hertzberg} and Shanmukh Kamble and Shahe Kazarian and Paavo Kerkk{\"a}nen and Mirka Klementov{\'a} and Kobozeva, {Irina M.} and Snjezana Kovjanic and Narasappa Kumaraswamy and Martin Lampert and Liao, {Chao Chih} and Manon Levesque and Eleni Loizou and {D{\'i}az Loving}, Rolando and Jim Lyttle and MacHline, {Vera C.} and Sean McGoldrick and Margaret McRorie and Liu Min and Ren{\'e} M{\~o}ttus and Munyae, {Margret M.} and Navia, {Carmen Elvira} and Mathero Nkhalamba and Pedrini, {Pier Paolo} and Mirsolava Petkova and Tracey Platt and Popa, {Diana Elena} and Anna Radomska and Tabassum Rashid and David Rawlings and Rubio, {Victor J.} and Samson, {Andrea C.} and Orly Sarid and Soraya Shams and Sek Sisokohm and Jakob Sm{\'a}ri and Ian Sneddon and Irena Snikhovska and Stephanenko, {Ekaterina A.} and Ieva Stokenberga and Hugo Stuer and Tanoto, {Yohana Sherly Rosalina} and Luis Tapia and Julia Taylor and Pascal Thibault and Ava Thompson and Hanna Th{\"o}rn and Hiroshi Toyota and Judit Ujlaky and Vitanya Vanno and Jun Wang and {Van Der Westhuizen}, Betsie and Deepani Wijayathilake and Wong, {Peter S.O.} and Wycoff, {Edgar B.} and Yeun, {Eun Ja}",

note = "Funding Information: Correspondence address: [email protected] * The Czech participation was supported by the research plan AV0Z0250504 of the Insti-tute of Psychology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and by grant no. 406/ Funding Information: 07/1561 from the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic. The data collection at the University of Warsaw was supported by the BST grant 1134/49 from 2006. All authors are grateful to the participants for their generous contribution to this study. The authors are grateful to the following persons for their assistance in the data collection or the preparation of the manuscript: Jessica Milner Davis, Tsu Ann Tham, Paul Thomas, Ri-chard Vella (Australia); Daniele Profilo (Bahamas); Jobaer Alam, Rehnuma N. Chowd-hury, Khaliquzzaman M. Elias, Tarikul Islam, Umma Jakia, Sajjad Kabir, Khairun Nahar, Nasreen Rahman, Shireen Akhter Ruby, Azmere Sultana Sarah, Abdus Selim and Asefa Zaman (Bangladesh); Bete Dorgam and Yara Kassab (Brazil); Valeri Niko-lov (Bulgaria); But Boreth, Khom Chandara, Hoy Chanthoeun, Seng Chhunleng, Ngon Hema, Seng Mang, Khean Munivann, Klot Sambo, On Sodary, Marn Sokhon, Srun Sokkhim, Seng Sophea, Um Sopheap, Phul Sophearith, Kea Sorya, Choeng Sreytom, Ret Thearom, Heng Tola, Ly Vanna, Try Veasna, So Vichet, Vannavuth Sochan Vi-mean (Cambodia); Liao Jian-hui, Zhou Shaozhou, Chen Wei-qing, Zhang Zhenxiang (P. R. China); Reynel Alexander Chaparro and the undergraduate interns at the Servicio de Atenci{\'o}n Psicol{\'o}gica de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia (Colombia); Sameh Salah (Egypt); John S. K. Ng, May M. L. Poon (Hong Kong); Eva {\'I}ris Eyj{\'o}lfs-d{\'o}ttir (Iceland); Seger Handoyo, Endah Mastuti, Budi Setiawan, Rangga P. Wicaksono (Indonesia); A. R. Al-Yassiry (Iraq); Yaacov Doron (Israel); Wafa Adnan (Jordan); Borat Sagdiyev (Kazakhstan); Ivars Austers (Latvia); Stanley Braganza (Macau); Wil-liam Liew, Noria Raja, Michelle Wong-Lee (Malaysia); Yesica Cienfuegos M{\'a}rtinez (Mexico); Marie-Jos{\'e} van den Berg, Miriam van den Berg, Nina Bolwerk, Geerte de Boois, Jorinde van der Heijden, Marjolein Jochemsen, Hester van Liempt and Josine Peet (The Netherlands); Ian Sneddon (Northern Ireland); Felipe Alva (Peru); Dorota Brzozowska, Joanna Ch{\l}opicka, Micha{\l} Garcarz, Dariusz Ka{\l}u{\.z}a, Katarzyna Korzec, Marek Kuniak, Maja Luba{\'n}ska, Andrzej Pawelec, Joanna Sobiecka, Barbara S´piewak, Anna Wyrwa (Poland); Rodica Apostolatu, Gabriela Scribnic (Romania); Stephanenko Nataliya Alexeevna, Karacheva Ekaterina Anatoliyevna, E. Delikishkina, R. Idrisov, Alyona Ivanova, V. Ponomareva, Lebedev Kirill Sergeevich, (Russia); Mile Kovjanic, Milica Kovjanic (Serbia); Tom{\'a}sˇ Chod{\'u}r, Hana Luciakov{\'a}, Martina Magulov{\'a}, R{\'o}bert Nagy (Slovakia); Philipp Drack, Stephanie Estoppey, Julien Fl{\"u}ckiger, Noah Savary, B{\'e}n{\'e}dicte Wildhaber (Switzerland); Jennet Germikova, Fewziya Mirzina (Turkmeni-stan); Jon Acker, Sergio Alatorre, David Annible, Ariana Charles, Heather Gaulden, Chenique Jackson, W. H. A. Johnson, Christina Merlos, Caren Oyor, Lawrence Sher-man, Christal Ternate, Alex Thomas, Kaijah Thompson, Victoria Thompson, Rebecca Wagner, Jonathan Wells, and Lauren White (USA).",

year = "2009",

month = feb,

doi = "10.1515/HUMR.2009.012",

language = "English",

volume = "22",

pages = "253--279",

journal = "Humor",

issn = "0933-1719",

publisher = "De Gruyter Mouton",

number = "1-2",

}

Proyer, RT, Ruch, W, Ali, NS, Al-Olimat, HS, Amemiya, T, Adal, TA, Ansari, SA, Arhar, P, Asem, G, Baudin, N, Bawab, S, Bergen, D, Brdar, I, Brites, R, Brunner-Sciarra, M, Carrell, A, Dios, HC, Celik, M, Ceschi, G, Chang, K, Guo-Hai, C, Cheryomukhin, A, Chik, MPY, Chlopicki, W, Cranney, J, Dahourou, D, Doosje, S, Dore, M, El-Arousy, N, Fickova, E, Führ, M, Gallivan, J, Geling, H, Germikova, L, Giedraityte, M, Goh, A, González, RD, Ho, SK, Hrebícková, M, Jaime, B, Kaare, BH, Kamble, S, Kazarian, S, Kerkkänen, P, Klementová, M, Kobozeva, IM, Kovjanic, S, Kumaraswamy, N, Lampert, M, Liao, CC, Levesque, M, Loizou, E, Díaz Loving, R, Lyttle, J, MacHline, VC, McGoldrick, S, McRorie, M, Min, L, Mõttus, R, Munyae, MM, Navia, CE, Nkhalamba, M, Pedrini, PP, Petkova, M, Platt, T, Popa, DE, Radomska, A, Rashid, T, Rawlings, D, Rubio, VJ, Samson, AC, Sarid, O, Shams, S, Sisokohm, S, Smári, J, Sneddon, I, Snikhovska, I, Stephanenko, EA, Stokenberga, I, Stuer, H, Tanoto, YSR, Tapia, L, Taylor, J, Thibault, P, Thompson, A, Thörn, H, Toyota, H, Ujlaky, J, Vanno, V, Wang, J, Van Der Westhuizen, B, Wijayathilake, D, Wong, PSO, Wycoff, EB & Yeun, EJ 2009, 'Breaking ground in cross-cultural research on the fear of being laughed at (gelotophobia): A multi-national study involving 73 countries', Humor, vol. 22, no. 1-2, pp. 253-279. https://doi.org/10.1515/HUMR.2009.012

TY - JOUR

T1 - Breaking ground in cross-cultural research on the fear of being laughed at (gelotophobia)

T2 - A multi-national study involving 73 countries

AU - Proyer, René T.

AU - Ruch, Willibald

AU - Ali, Numan S.

AU - Al-Olimat, Hmoud S.

AU - Amemiya, Toshihiko

AU - Adal, Tamirie Andualem

AU - Ansari, Sadia Aziz

AU - Arhar, Pela

AU - Asem, Gigi

AU - Baudin, Nicolas

AU - Bawab, Souha

AU - Bergen, Doris

AU - Brdar, Ingrid

AU - Brites, Rute

AU - Brunner-Sciarra, Marina

AU - Carrell, Amy

AU - Dios, Hugo Carretero

AU - Celik, Mehmet

AU - Ceschi, Grazia

AU - Chang, Kay

AU - Guo-Hai, Chen

AU - Cheryomukhin, Alexander

AU - Chik, Maria P.Y.

AU - Chlopicki, Wladyslaw

AU - Cranney, Jacquelyn

AU - Dahourou, Donatien

AU - Doosje, Sibe

AU - Dore, Margherita

AU - El-Arousy, Nahwat

AU - Fickova, Emilia

AU - Führ, Martin

AU - Gallivan, Joanne

AU - Geling, Han

AU - Germikova, Lydia

AU - Giedraityte, Marija

AU - Goh, Abe

AU - González, Rebeca Díaz

AU - Ho, Sai Kin

AU - Hrebícková, Martina

AU - Jaime, Belen

AU - Kaare, Birgit Hertzberg

AU - Kamble, Shanmukh

AU - Kazarian, Shahe

AU - Kerkkänen, Paavo

AU - Klementová, Mirka

AU - Kobozeva, Irina M.

AU - Kovjanic, Snjezana

AU - Kumaraswamy, Narasappa

AU - Lampert, Martin

AU - Liao, Chao Chih

AU - Levesque, Manon

AU - Loizou, Eleni

AU - Díaz Loving, Rolando

AU - Lyttle, Jim

AU - MacHline, Vera C.

AU - McGoldrick, Sean

AU - McRorie, Margaret

AU - Min, Liu

AU - Mõttus, René

AU - Munyae, Margret M.

AU - Navia, Carmen Elvira

AU - Nkhalamba, Mathero

AU - Pedrini, Pier Paolo

AU - Petkova, Mirsolava

AU - Platt, Tracey

AU - Popa, Diana Elena

AU - Radomska, Anna

AU - Rashid, Tabassum

AU - Rawlings, David

AU - Rubio, Victor J.

AU - Samson, Andrea C.

AU - Sarid, Orly

AU - Shams, Soraya

AU - Sisokohm, Sek

AU - Smári, Jakob

AU - Sneddon, Ian

AU - Snikhovska, Irena

AU - Stephanenko, Ekaterina A.

AU - Stokenberga, Ieva

AU - Stuer, Hugo

AU - Tanoto, Yohana Sherly Rosalina

AU - Tapia, Luis

AU - Taylor, Julia

AU - Thibault, Pascal

AU - Thompson, Ava

AU - Thörn, Hanna

AU - Toyota, Hiroshi

AU - Ujlaky, Judit

AU - Vanno, Vitanya

AU - Wang, Jun

AU - Van Der Westhuizen, Betsie

AU - Wijayathilake, Deepani

AU - Wong, Peter S.O.

AU - Wycoff, Edgar B.

AU - Yeun, Eun Ja

N1 - Funding Information: Correspondence address: [email protected] * The Czech participation was supported by the research plan AV0Z0250504 of the Insti-tute of Psychology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and by grant no. 406/ Funding Information: 07/1561 from the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic. The data collection at the University of Warsaw was supported by the BST grant 1134/49 from 2006. All authors are grateful to the participants for their generous contribution to this study. The authors are grateful to the following persons for their assistance in the data collection or the preparation of the manuscript: Jessica Milner Davis, Tsu Ann Tham, Paul Thomas, Ri-chard Vella (Australia); Daniele Profilo (Bahamas); Jobaer Alam, Rehnuma N. Chowd-hury, Khaliquzzaman M. Elias, Tarikul Islam, Umma Jakia, Sajjad Kabir, Khairun Nahar, Nasreen Rahman, Shireen Akhter Ruby, Azmere Sultana Sarah, Abdus Selim and Asefa Zaman (Bangladesh); Bete Dorgam and Yara Kassab (Brazil); Valeri Niko-lov (Bulgaria); But Boreth, Khom Chandara, Hoy Chanthoeun, Seng Chhunleng, Ngon Hema, Seng Mang, Khean Munivann, Klot Sambo, On Sodary, Marn Sokhon, Srun Sokkhim, Seng Sophea, Um Sopheap, Phul Sophearith, Kea Sorya, Choeng Sreytom, Ret Thearom, Heng Tola, Ly Vanna, Try Veasna, So Vichet, Vannavuth Sochan Vi-mean (Cambodia); Liao Jian-hui, Zhou Shaozhou, Chen Wei-qing, Zhang Zhenxiang (P. R. China); Reynel Alexander Chaparro and the undergraduate interns at the Servicio de Atención Psicológica de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia (Colombia); Sameh Salah (Egypt); John S. K. Ng, May M. L. Poon (Hong Kong); Eva Íris Eyjólfs-dóttir (Iceland); Seger Handoyo, Endah Mastuti, Budi Setiawan, Rangga P. Wicaksono (Indonesia); A. R. Al-Yassiry (Iraq); Yaacov Doron (Israel); Wafa Adnan (Jordan); Borat Sagdiyev (Kazakhstan); Ivars Austers (Latvia); Stanley Braganza (Macau); Wil-liam Liew, Noria Raja, Michelle Wong-Lee (Malaysia); Yesica Cienfuegos Mártinez (Mexico); Marie-José van den Berg, Miriam van den Berg, Nina Bolwerk, Geerte de Boois, Jorinde van der Heijden, Marjolein Jochemsen, Hester van Liempt and Josine Peet (The Netherlands); Ian Sneddon (Northern Ireland); Felipe Alva (Peru); Dorota Brzozowska, Joanna Chłopicka, Michał Garcarz, Dariusz Kałuża, Katarzyna Korzec, Marek Kuniak, Maja Lubańska, Andrzej Pawelec, Joanna Sobiecka, Barbara S´piewak, Anna Wyrwa (Poland); Rodica Apostolatu, Gabriela Scribnic (Romania); Stephanenko Nataliya Alexeevna, Karacheva Ekaterina Anatoliyevna, E. Delikishkina, R. Idrisov, Alyona Ivanova, V. Ponomareva, Lebedev Kirill Sergeevich, (Russia); Mile Kovjanic, Milica Kovjanic (Serbia); Tomásˇ Chodúr, Hana Luciaková, Martina Magulová, Róbert Nagy (Slovakia); Philipp Drack, Stephanie Estoppey, Julien Flückiger, Noah Savary, Bénédicte Wildhaber (Switzerland); Jennet Germikova, Fewziya Mirzina (Turkmeni-stan); Jon Acker, Sergio Alatorre, David Annible, Ariana Charles, Heather Gaulden, Chenique Jackson, W. H. A. Johnson, Christina Merlos, Caren Oyor, Lawrence Sher-man, Christal Ternate, Alex Thomas, Kaijah Thompson, Victoria Thompson, Rebecca Wagner, Jonathan Wells, and Lauren White (USA).

PY - 2009/2

Y1 - 2009/2

N2 - The current study examines whether the fear of being laughed at (gelotophobia) can be assessed reliably and validly by means of a self-report instrument in different countries of the world. All items of the GELOPH (Ruch and Titze 1998; Ruch and Proyer 2008b) were translated to the local language of the collaborator (42 languages in total). In total, 22,610 participants in 93 samples from 73 countries completed the GELOPH. Across all samples the reliability of the 15-item questionnaire was high (mean alpha of .85) and in all samples the scales appeared to be unidimensional. The endorsement rates for the items ranged from 1.31% through 80.00% to a single item. Variations in the mean scores of the items were more strongly related to the culture in a country and not to the language in which the data were collected. This was also supported by a multidimensional scaling analysis with standardized mean scores of the items from the GELOPH〈15〉. This analysis identified two dimensions that further helped explaining the data (i.e., insecure vs. intense avoidant-restrictive and low vs. high suspicious tendencies towards the laughter of others). Furthermore, multiple samples derived from one country tended to be (with a few exceptions) highly similar. The study shows that gelotophobia can be assessed reliably by means of a self-report instrument in cross-cultural research. This study enables further studies of the fear of being laughed at with regard to differences in the prevalence and putative causes of gelotophobia in comparisons to different cultures.

AB - The current study examines whether the fear of being laughed at (gelotophobia) can be assessed reliably and validly by means of a self-report instrument in different countries of the world. All items of the GELOPH (Ruch and Titze 1998; Ruch and Proyer 2008b) were translated to the local language of the collaborator (42 languages in total). In total, 22,610 participants in 93 samples from 73 countries completed the GELOPH. Across all samples the reliability of the 15-item questionnaire was high (mean alpha of .85) and in all samples the scales appeared to be unidimensional. The endorsement rates for the items ranged from 1.31% through 80.00% to a single item. Variations in the mean scores of the items were more strongly related to the culture in a country and not to the language in which the data were collected. This was also supported by a multidimensional scaling analysis with standardized mean scores of the items from the GELOPH〈15〉. This analysis identified two dimensions that further helped explaining the data (i.e., insecure vs. intense avoidant-restrictive and low vs. high suspicious tendencies towards the laughter of others). Furthermore, multiple samples derived from one country tended to be (with a few exceptions) highly similar. The study shows that gelotophobia can be assessed reliably by means of a self-report instrument in cross-cultural research. This study enables further studies of the fear of being laughed at with regard to differences in the prevalence and putative causes of gelotophobia in comparisons to different cultures.

KW - Cross-cultural comparisons

KW - Gelotophobia

KW - Humor

KW - Laughter

KW - Multi-national study

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=59749086472&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1515/HUMR.2009.012

DO - 10.1515/HUMR.2009.012

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:59749086472

SN - 0933-1719

VL - 22

SP - 253

EP - 279

JO - Humor

JF - Humor

IS - 1-2

ER -

Breaking ground in cross-cultural research on the fear of being laughed at (gelotophobia): A multi-national study involving 73 countries

Abstract

Scopus Subject Areas

User-Defined Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this