Psychophysiology, 51 (2014), 1112–1121. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Printed in the USA. Copyright © 2014 Society for Psychophysiological Research DOI: 10.1111/psyp.12259 Laughter as a social rejection cue: Gelotophobia and transient cardiac responses to other persons’ laughter and insult ILONA PAPOUSEK,a NILÜFER AYDIN,b HELMUT K. LACKNER,c ELISABETH M. WEISS,a MARKUS BÜHNER,d GÜNTER SCHULTER,a CANICE CHARLESWORTH,e and H. HARALD FREUDENTHALERe aDepartment of Psychology, Biological Psychology Unit, University of Graz, Graz, Austria bDepartment of Psychology, Social Psychology Unit, University of Klagenfurt, Klagenfurt, Austria cInstitute of Physiology, Medical University, Graz, Austria dDepartment of Psychology, Psychological Methodology and Assessment Unit, Ludwig-Maximilian-University of Munich, Munich, Germany eDepartment of Psychology, Psychological Assessment and Research Methods Unit, University of Graz, Graz, Austria Abstract Other persons’ laughter, normally perceived as a signal that persons are friendly and inviting others to approach, can also be perceived as a cue of social rejection. In this study, prerecorded laughter was placed in a realistic and personally relevant context, and participants’ responses were related to gelotophobia, a trait predisposing to perceiving laughter as a cue of social rejection. Individuals with gelotophobia showed marked heart rate deceleration in response to the laughter stimulus, possibly indicating a “freezing-like” response. Moreover, cardiac responses to anger provocation by overtly insulting statements indicated heightened aggressive anger in response to cumulated social threat. The study adds to recent research showing specific cardiac responses to social rejection and to the literature on social rejection sensitivity by demonstrating the value of using well interpretable physiological measures in this research context. Descriptors: Transient heart rate response, Rejection sensitivity, Social threat, Immobilization, Laughter Individuals have a fundamental need to belong (Baumeister & High levels of rejection sensitivity may tremendously impact indi- Leary, 1995). Feeling socially excluded or rejected threatens viduals’ social relationships, because they are linked to heightened people’s mental and physical well-being, and a lack of social ties antisocial behavior in response to perceived rejection (Ayduk, can be associated with feelings of anxiety, loneliness, and depres- Gyurak, & Luerssen, 2008). sion (Baumeister & Tice, 1990; Williams, 2009; Zadro, Williams, So far, the theoretical framework of rejection sensitivity has & Richardson, 2004). Moreover, unmet belonging needs can have been unspecific in terms of potential rejection cues and has not potent effects on physiological indicators of heightened distress incorporated specific situations, such as other persons’ laughter. such as cortisol release and blood pressure (Dickerson, While in most cases perceived as a signal that persons are friendly, Gruenewald, & Kemeny, 2011; Dickerson & Zoccola, 2013), as trustworthy, playful, and nonthreatening, inviting others to well as on activation of brain regions such as the anterior cingulate approach (Harker & Keltner, 2001; Keating et al., 1981; LaFrance cortex that are associated with physical pain, suggesting that being & Hecht, 1995; Reis et al., 1990; Ruch, 1993), other persons’ excluded or rejected can literally hurt (Eisenberger, Lieberman, & laughter can also be perceived as a cue of social threat and rejec- Williams, 2003). tion, taking on the form of “laughing at” and ridicule (Ruch & As “social animals” (Aristotle, as cited in Simpson, 1997; Ekman, 2001; Szameitat et al., 2009). Individuals with Williams & Nida, 2011), human beings are inclined to seek accept- gelotophobia (from gelos, Greek for laughter) have a strong dispo- ance and avoid rejection (Baumeister & Leary, 1995, Williams, sition to assume that laughter in their presence is directed at them. 2007). However, the extent to which cues are identified as social They fear the laughter of other persons and are hypervigilant rejection cues and how individuals respond to such cues varies toward signs of derision and persons that might ridicule them greatly between individuals, with profound implications for their (Ruch, Hofmann, Platt, & Proyer, 2014; Ruch & Proyer, 2008a; social functioning and health (Downey & Feldman, 1996; Mogg, Titze, 2009). Gelotophobia is considered to occur along a contin- Philippot, & Bradley, 2004). The concept of “rejection sensitivity” uum in nonclinical populations, with levels exceeding a certain refers to these individual differences. It has been defined as the threshold considered as psychiatrically relevant (Ruch, 2009; disposition to anxiously expect, readily perceive, and strongly react Ruch, Proyer, & Ventis, 2010). Similar to sensitivity to rejection, to social rejection, particularly in ambiguous situations (Downey & which is part of the defining criteria for social phobia/avoidant Feldman, 1996; Downey, Freitas, Michaelis, & Khouri, 1998). personality disorder as well as other psychiatric diagnoses such as paranoid and schizotypal personality disorders (ICD-10; Dilling, Address correspondence to: Ilona Papousek, University of Graz, Mombour, & Schmidt, 2008), it was reported that 80 percent of Department of Psychology, Univ.-Platz 2, A-8010 Graz, Austria. E-mail: individuals with gelotophobia were diagnosed with social phobia [email protected] and/or Cluster A (paranoid, schizotypal) personality disorder bs_bs_banner 1112 Laughter as a social rejection cue 1113 (Weiss et al., 2012). Hence, the concept of gelotophobia is closely heart rate changes across a series of time frames of a few seconds, related to the concept of rejection sensitivity, but specifically refers which may supply relevant information not available from coarse to the fear and (mis)perception of other persons’ expressions of average values (e.g., Lackner, Batzel, Rössler, Hinghofer-Szalkay, cheerfulness. By examining groups of individuals with and without & Papousek, in press). gelotophobia and confronting them with laughter, the response to a Evidence suggests that the perception of social rejection is very specific stimulus can be examined which, depending on the indicated by extended heart rate deceleration, exceeding the brief individual’s disposition, can be (but not necessarily is) perceived as immediate slowing of heart rate (lasting a few seconds) that typi- a cue of social rejection. Moreover, other persons’ laughter can be cally follows confrontation with low or medium intensity stimuli incorporated in a realistic experimental design representing a situa- and which reflects an early perceptual process of stimulus registra- tion frequently occurring in highly similar ways in everyday life. tion (Barry, MacDonald, & Rushby, 2011; MacDonald, Barry, & In addition to the disposition to misperceive laughter as a social Rushby, 2012). Compared to cues of social acceptance and unex- rejection cue, gelotophobia may be related to anger proneness. The pected nonsocial feedback stimuli, heart rate deceleration con- more broad concept of rejection sensitivity, too, has been related to tinued for a longer time after perceiving a cue of unexpected social poor emotion regulation as well as to hostility and overt aggression, rejection, which was interpreted as prolonged enhanced sensory particularly after incidents of social rejection (Jacobs & Harper, intake and attention, facilitating the processing of significant social 2013; Olsson, Carmona, Downey, Bolger, & Ochsner, 2013; information (Gunther Moor, Bos, Crone, & van der Molen, 2014; Romero-Canvas, Downey, Berenson, Ayduk, & Kang, 2010). Gunther Moor, Crone, & van der Molen, 2010; van der Veen, van According to self-reports, individuals with gelotophobia are more der Molen, Sahibdin, & Franken, in press; see also Bradley & likely to experience anger, also in emotionally relatively neutral or Lang, 2007). In adolescent girls, putatively particularly sensitive to ambiguous interpersonal situations (Papousek et al., 2009; Weiss social rejection, the cardiac slowing was particularly pronounced et al., 2012). The disposition to experience anger may be socially (Gunther Moor et al., 2014). By also including overtly insulting relevant, because trait anger plays a role in aggressive behavior and stimuli, the present study allowed us to gain evidence on the dif- violence, particularly when coupled with defective emotion regu- ferential validity of this cardiac response that assumedly indicates lation (Harper, Austin, Cercone, & Arias, 2005; Shorey, Cornelius, the experience of social rejection. & Idema, 2011). In fact, anecdotal evidence suggesting that perpe- Anger responses, especially responses to harassment and insult, trators of violent acts such as school shootings had a horror of are typically accompanied by heart rate acceleration (for review, being mocked and may have taken revenge for having been laughed see Kreibig, 2010). Particularly, the approach motivational compo- at has fuelled the suspicion that gelotophobia may be linked to nent of anger (related to angry aggression; Carver & aggression and violence (Holden, 2009; Ruch, 2009, Ruch et al., Harmon-Jones, 2009) is associated with increased heart rates, 2014). Empirical findings showing a stronger tendency towards probably reflecting situation-appropriate activation and energy overt aggression in gelotophobics than in nonphobic controls, at mobilization (Kubo, Okanoya, & Kawai, 2012; Stemmler, Aue, & least