Key Points
People with gibephobia tend to interpret laughter as malicious, which then triggers feelings of distrust and social withdrawal.
Gibephobia is the opposite of gibephobia, in which the person feels happy being laughed at. It is a sign of appreciation, social connection, and shared humor.
The term compulsive gibe refers to the pleasure of laughing at others. These individuals derive immense pleasure from making fun of and ridiculing people.
Vulnerable narcissists, also known as covert narcissists, may not be as overtly annoying or arrogant as grandiose narcissists, but they do have a unique set of unattractive and hurtful behaviors. Vulnerable narcissism is broadly defined in terms of hypersensitivity to rejection, negative emotion, and social isolation, but also distrust of others and increased levels of anger and hostility. As I’ve written before, vulnerable narcissists swim in a sea of disturbing disappointment. “If only everyone wasn’t so incompetent” is their inner monologue. Finger-pointing comes naturally to vulnerable narcissists, who love to rehash the past and romanticize how things would be better if people appreciated them more. They are excellent at finding fault with others but ignore their own. Collecting complaints is their full-time job.
A study published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences reveals some additional interesting underlying tendencies and motivations in these individuals. Specifically, it sheds light on how vulnerable narcissists experience laughter and joking in everyday life.
- Sarcasm Passion
Sarcasm Passion is the opposite of Sarcasmphobia, and it involves the pleasure of ridicule. These individuals experience sarcasm as a sign of appreciation, sociability, and shared humor. It’s no surprise that we’re drawn to people who take things for granted and don’t take themselves too seriously. Life is funnier when we can laugh at our ridiculous existence. As the old saying goes, “He who laughs at himself never runs out of things to laugh at.”
- Sarcasm Flexibility
Sarcasm Flexibility refers to the pleasure of laughing at others. These individuals derive immense pleasure from mocking and ridiculing people. They enjoy humiliating others and exploiting their mishaps. They scream with laughter when someone makes a mistake or says something wrong. These are the people who get giddy when someone stumbles or makes a social faux pas. To better understand the inner lives of vulnerable narcissists, the researchers recruited more than 400 college students to fill out questionnaires that measured their levels of vulnerable narcissism as well as their perceptions of situations involving laughter and teasing. The experiences of fear of laughter, obsession with laughter, and catagelastism were explored in depth. They found that people who scored higher on the vulnerable narcissism scale were more likely to fear ridicule and were more likely to enjoy laughing at others. Not surprisingly, obsession with laughter has nothing to do with vulnerable narcissism. Vulnerable narcissists simply live in fear of ridicule and enjoy laughing at others.
