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

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, GELOPH46, University of Düsseldorf, 1998; Ruch and Proyer, Swiss Journal of Psychology 67:19-27, 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 GELOPH15. 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 culture

At work and play; business events as entrepreneurial spaces

There is inadequate literature examining, and illustrating, the integration of play and business events and how this facilitates entrepreneurial opportunities. Business events are distinct from the patterns of ordinary life and increasingly offer participants an ‘invitation to play’, encouraging socialization and trust. This article examines the role of play in the design of business events and how this can enable entrepreneurial outcomes. Through examination of diverse, but related, literature and three contrasting, empirically based, case studies, this article illustrates how event creators take an increasingly entrepreneurial approach. These cases range from a charity event with participants sleeping with the homeless on a city’s streets, a major flooring manufacturer designing events to outsource innovation and an imaginative event activity termed ‘coffee and papers’. Designing events that fuse, rather than polarize, play and work enables business event settings, and activities, which trigger entrepreneurial outcomes. This article adds to the embryonic literature and concludes by identifying four principles that underlie the effectual facilitation of play in a business event setting

Moving Forward in Fostering Humour: Towards Training Lighter Forms of Humour in Multicultural Contexts

The following theoretical position paper has the aim to outline two important future directions of humour intervention research. Firstly, existing humour trainings have not differentiated explicitly between different uses of humour or humour that may be virtuous or not. Within the realm of Positive Psychology, all virtuous forms of humour need to be identified and interventions developed that aim at fostering these benevolent/lighter forms. Secondly, most humour trainings have been adapted and conducted in one cultural context. Future trainings should consider cross-cultural perspectives to allow for comparative research and practice. Thus, the current paper first gives an overview on the extant literature on the distinction between lighter and darker forms of humour, as well as showing how humour can serve the virtues proposed by Peterson and Seligman (2004). Then, we elaborate on the findings on humour and well-being, as well as findings on existing humour interventions. The second section starts with open questions and hypotheses on how a new generation of trainings targeting lighter forms of humour could look like. Then, we discuss (potential) cultural differences in humour and how this may affect the design of interventions. When aiming for cross-cultural adaptations of the same humour program, several challenges have to be overcome, such as the term “humour” not having the same meaning in every culture, and cultural rules on what can be laughed at

Protecting Local Diversity in Scenarios of Modern Food Biotechnology, Globalised Trade and Intellectual Property Rights

Decreased global and local diversity and a homogenization of biota is seen as a major threat to ecological and socio economic resilience. Consequences of modern food production, such as global propagation of few high yielding elite lines, declining diversity of landraces or consequences from gene flow, interact with socioeconomic drivers such as trade and intellectual property regulations in accelerating the mostly irreversible and broadening impacts of loss of biodiversity. Especially the SPS agreement under WTO prohibits any approaches to restrict trade of foods because of other reasons than sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures. Already now the reports of the UN- Millennium Ecosystem Assessment reports alarmingly increasing homogenization of biota and distribution of exotic species by trade and trans- boundary movements. This development is considered to reduce local ecological and social resilience in food production significantly. In the light of these developments trade regulations need to be reconsidered. The use of new, ethically guided structured Matrixes or Codes for an integrated assessment of safety and societal consequences and a participatory priority setting including aspects of public goods, such as conservation, seems to be mandatory

Wie gehen Erwachsene mit dem Lachen und Auslachen um? Zur erinnerten Rolle von Lehrern, Familie und Gleichaltrigen

Untersucht wird der Zusammenhang zwischen erinnerten sozialen Unterstützungs- und Belastungsfaktoren in Kindheit und Jugend durch Familie, Lehrer und Gleichaltrige mit der Ausprägung der Angst vor dem Ausgelachtwerden (Gelotophobie), der Freude am Ausgelachtwerden (Gelotophilie), der Freude daran, andere auszulachen (Katagelastizismus) sowie zur Lebenszufriedenheit im Erwachsenenalter (N = 288; die Daten wurden online erhoben). Höhere erinnerte Unterstützung ging mit geringeren Werten in Gelotophobie und höheren in Gelotophilie einher (keine Beziehung zu Katagelastizismus). Ebenso ging höhere erinnerte Unterstützung mit höherer Lebenszufriedenheit einher. Für die Angst vor dem Ausgelachtwerden schien vor allem die Unterstützung durch Gleichaltrige gefolgt von jener durch die Eltern von großer Bedeutung zu sein. Geringere erinnerte Unterstützung durch Lehrer hing nur in geringem Ausmaß mit Gelotophobie zusammen, sodass den Lehrern hier keine zentrale Rolle zuzukommen scheint. Allerdings fand sich, dass Unterstützung durch Lehrer (ebenso wie jene durch Eltern oder Gleichaltrige) mit höherer Lebenszufriedenheit einherging. Die Studie zeigt robuste Zusammenhänge zwischen sozialen Unterstützungs- und Belastungsfaktoren und Reaktionen auf den Umgang mit (Aus-)Lachen und Ausgelachtwerden im Erwachsenenalter

Gelotophobia in the Lebanon: The Arabic Version of a Questionnaire for the Subjective Assessment of the Fear of Being Laughed at

Objectives: Gelotophobia, a new clinical construct, is defined as the fear of being laughed at and ridiculed and is measured by the GELOPH scale. The present study describes adaptation of the English version of GELOPH to Arabic, using back-translation methodology, and its validation in the Lebanese context. Method: The Arabic GELOPH is administered to a group of Lebanese university students (n=198) to assess its factor structure and to a second group of 60 university students to assess its relationship to the Arabic Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ), the Arabic Center of Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale, and the Arabic Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWL). Results: The findings support the internal consistency of the scale and its factor structure as a one-dimensional individual differences phenomenon. The findings also elucidated the relationship of the Arabic GELOPH, and to life satisfaction as assessed by the Arabic Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWL). Conclusion: Overall, the results suggest that the Arabic GELOPH items are relevant in the Lebanese context, especially those that pertain to the intention of controlling oneself strongly and disengagement from social activities for self-protection from derision. As importantly, the findings are suggestive that approximately 7% of the scores exceed a cut-off point of ≥ 2.50, indicative of at least a slight expression of gelotophobic symptom

Gelotophobia in Israel: on the assessment of the fear of being laughed at

Gelotophobia is defined as the fear of being laughed at. Empirical studies revealed that it is a valid and useful concept which deserves further attention. Furthermore, gelotophobia is of relevance among non- clinical groups, and it should be best conceptualized as an individual differences phenomenon that ranges on a dimension from low to high fear of being laughed at. The present study presents the first empirical data on the fear of being laughed at in Israel (N = 220). It describes the adaptation of an instrument for the subjective assessment of gelotophobia to Hebrew. The translation yielded good psychometric properties in terms of high reliability (α = .89). The Hebrew-GELOPH is best described with a one-dimensional factor solution. Items referring especially to the avoidance of places where one has made an embarrassing impression yielded higher endorsements. Gelotophobia was more prevalent among younger participants, females, and participants who were not in a relationship. Approximately 6% exceeded a cut-off score indicating at least a slight expression of gelotophobic symptoms. Results are discussed with respect to further application of the questionnaire in research and practice. If confirmed by additional studies it will have a significant implication on the understanding of gelotophobia in relation to social phobia and related phobias

Protecting local diversity in scenarios of modern food biotechnology, globalised trade and intellectual property rights

Decreased global and local diversity and a homogenization of biota is seen as a major threat to ecological and socio economic resilience. Consequences of modern food production, such as global propagation of few high yielding elite lines, declining diversity of landraces or consequences from gene flow, interact with socioeconomic drivers such as trade and intellectual property regulations in accelerating the mostly irreversible and broadening impacts of loss of biodiversity. Especially the SPS agreement under WTO prohibits any approaches to restrict trade of foods because of other reasons than sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures. Already now the reports of the UN- Millennium Ecosystem Assessment reports alarmingly increasing homogenization of biota and distribution of exotic species by trade and trans- boundary movements. This development is considered to reduce local ecological and social resilience in food production significantly. In the light of these developments trade regulations need to be reconsidered. The use of new, ethically guided structured Matrixes or Codes for an integrated assessment of safety and societal consequences and a participatory priority setting including aspects of public goods, such as conservation, seems to be mandatory

Gelotophobia in India: The assessment of the fear of being laughed at with the Kannada Version of the GELOPH <15>

Gelotophobia is defined as the fear of being laughed at. First empirical studies revealed that it is a valid and useful new concept. Furthermore, it was shown that it is of relevance among non-clinical groups and that it should be best conceptualized as a one-dimensional individual differences phenomenon. The present study presents first empirical data on the fear of being laughed at in India (N = 296). It describes the adaptation of an instrument for the subjective assessment of gelotophobia to Kannada. The translation yielded good psychometric properties and especially items referring to controlling oneself strongly in order not to attract negative attention and to appear ridiculous to other people yielded higher endorsements. Gelotophobia was not related to the age, sex, or marital status of the participants. More that one fourth of the participants (27.70 %) exceeded a cut-off score indicating at least a slight expression of gelotophobic symptoms. The results are discussed with respect to the current literature on the fear of being laughed at