Gelotophobes do not interpret laughter by others as something positive but more as a mean to put them down. Gelotophiles enjoy being laughed at and interpret the laughter by others positively, as a sign of appreciation. Katagelasticists enjoy laughing at others and do not feel that there is anything wrong in doing so.
In an empirical study (N = 394), gelotophobia, gelotophilia, and katagelasticism were related to the PEN-model. Gelotophobes were found to be introverted neurotics. Gelotophilia was primarily related to extraversion and in a multiple regression analysis gender (higher among males) turned out to be predictive as well. Katagelasticists were found to be younger males with higher scores in extraversion and psychoticism. Overall, in a regression analysis the content scales of the short form of the EPQ-R predicted gelotophobia best, but gelotophilia and katagelasticism also yielded robust relations".
Key words: gelotophobia, gelotophilia, humor, katagelasticism, PEN-model, ridicule