Laughter is a powerful social phenomenon. Gelotophobes feel anxious and try to avoid it; gelotophiles use it as a social tool; katagelasts direct it toward others. Our research dealt with personal characteristics associated with these different types. Gelotophobia seems unrelated to self-control and diligence but gelotophia and katagelasticism are negatively related to such traits. Careful attention to laughter may be associated with personalities in which a focus on short-term manipulation the environment can override other, longer-range traits.

Gelotophobia is characterized by a fear of being the object of laughter. Gelotophobes display a constellation of characteristics revealing an often-negative view of their lives, including a lack of typical unrealistic optimism and a dissatisfaction with life experiences. We investigated the degree to which gelotophobes show general fear of happiness. Our results indicate such a fear. We suggest that this fear of happiness is consistent with an overall pattern in which gelotophobes show continual monitoring of their relationships with others paired with interpretations that magnify negative events and general negativity about themselves.

Gelotophobes, who fear being the object of laughter, show dour personalities. We explored the tendencies of gelotophobes toward unrealistic optimism. We hypothesized that gelotophobes would show little unrealistic optimism. They do not display unrealistic optimism for positive events, but do so for negative events. Further, their views of life show global negativity. Thus in some senses, gelotophobes are part-time pessimists, a finding that is consistent with previous research showing that they do not self-deceive.

Research indicates that there are three malevolent traits that seem to overlap: narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. These traits are known as the Dark Triad. I found that these dark triad traits were significantly related to a variety of interpersonal traits, such as citizenship, social/emotional/personal intelligence, and mistrust. Individuals scoring high on the dark triad seem to be mistrustful, antisocial, and have a lack of ambition. This study suggests a possible relation between the dark triad and how individuals with significant levels of these traits might interact with others.

Reaction to laughter is reliably associated with personality. Gelotophobes respond negatively to laughter and interpret it as directed toward them, whereas katagelasts direct laughter toward others. We investigated intrapersonal traits associated with these two approaches to laughter, including impression management, general anxiety, anxiety associated with adult attachment and self-deception. The results showed that gelotophobia and katagelasticism are both predictive of anxiety, although the anxiety manifests itself differently for the two. The findings indicate that, although gelotophobia and katagelasticism share some features, the traits associated with these two approaches to laughter reflect distinct differences.

Gelotophobia is characterized by a fear of being the object of laughter. Those who score high on measures of gelotophobia tend to show dour personality characteristics, being low in playfulness and high in negative expressivity and mistrust. In this research, we explored the tendencies of gelotophobes toward unrealistic optimism. Given their negative outlook on life, we hypothesized that gelotophobes would show less unrealistic optimism than those not characterized by this trait. Our results revealed that gelotophobes do not display the unrealistic optimism that most people show. At the same time, they do not anticipate negative events in their lives any differently than other people do. Thus in some senses, gelotophobes are neither optimists nor pessimists, a finding that is consistent with previous research showing that they do not self-deceive.