Differential perception of shame in the Japanese

Although laughter is typically considered to be a positive expression, being laughed at by someone else evokes several types of negative emotions. However, the changes in the negative emotions recognized after being laughed at compared to before have yet to be clarified. The present study investigated the emotional responses and the relationship between the intensity of these emotions and gelotophobia when laughed at due to an unexpected failure situation of tripping over. Study 1 involved a survey with 130 Japanese undergraduate students. Study 2 was performed to confirm the results of Study 1 and examine gender differences. The participants of Study 2 were 392 Japanese undergraduate students, and we assessed the intensity of four negative emotions (shame, pain, anger, and sadness) perceived by participants when the character in the given scenario was laughed at following a failure (tripping over). The results of Study 1 and 2 showed that shame was mainly reported in the laughing situation irrespective of gelotophobia. Furthermore, significant correlations between anger or sadness and gelotophobia were observed but not between shame and gelotophobia. In conclusion, gelotophobia as individual differences modulates the perception of emotional feelings, producing different mixed negative emotions in the same laughing situation.