Platt T, Ruch W, Proyer R T
Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Binzmühlestr. 14/7, 8050, Zürich, Schweiz.
Z Gerontol Geriatr. 2010 Feb;43(1):36-41. doi: 10.1007/s00391-009-0083-z. Epub 2009 Dec 17.
This paper reviews recent literature on gelotophobia (i.e., the fear of being laughed at) with an emphasis on age-specific aspects. Research with two instruments, the GELOPH and PhoPhiKat questionnaires, is presented with special attention being given to sociodemographic correlates and differences in intelligence, character strengths, personality, emotion, and humor. Quite consistently gelotophobes tend to misread positively motivated smiling and laughter (e.g. in social interactions, photographs or auditorily presented) and have lower values in many, but not all, components of humor. They have a low propensity to joy and a disposition to experience shame and fear. More generally they tend to describe themselves as being introverted and neurotic, and they underestimate their own potential while not actually being less capable. Furthermore, new data are presented suggesting that age-related vulnerabilities may be additional sources of ridicule making gelotophobia more of a problem for the elderly. Finally, the prevalence of this fear over the lifespan and potential cohort effects are discussed. It is concluded that more research into this fear and its adverse impact on social interactions, even humorous ones, of the elderly is needed.
本文回顾了近期关于恐笑症（即害怕被嘲笑）的文献，重点关注特定年龄方面。介绍了使用两种工具GELOPH问卷和PhoPhiKat问卷进行的研究，特别关注社会人口统计学相关因素以及在智力、性格优势、人格、情绪和幽默方面的差异。相当一致的是，恐笑症患者往往会误解积极动机的微笑和笑声（例如在社交互动、照片或听觉呈现中），并且在幽默的许多但并非所有组成部分中得分较低。他们体验快乐的倾向较低，且有体验羞耻和恐惧的倾向。更普遍地说，他们倾向于将自己描述为内向和神经质，并且低估自己的潜力，而实际上他们并非能力不足。此外，新数据表明，与年龄相关的脆弱性可能是额外的嘲笑来源，使恐笑症对老年人来说更是一个问题。最后，讨论了这种恐惧在整个生命周期中的患病率以及潜在的队列效应。得出的结论是，需要对这种恐惧及其对老年人社交互动（甚至是幽默互动）的不利影响进行更多研究。
