We hypothesized that gelotophobia (the fear of being laughed at), gelotophilia (the joy of being laughed at), and katagelasticism (the joy of laughing at others) relate differently to character strengths. In Study 1 (N = 5,134), self-assessed gelotophobia was primarily negatively related to strengths (especially to lower hope, zest, and love), whereas only modesty yielded positive relations. Ge...

This study describes a first exploration of the construct of courage in youths. Children aged 8-13 years were invited to report on the most courageous action that they had ever performed during their life. In addition, the Courage Measure for Children (CM-C) was construed as an index of children's level of personal courage, and this scale was administered in two samples of school children (Ns b...

This article presents a new tool—the Wilderness Courage Scale. The Wilderness Courage Scale is a scale that diagnoses undertaking activity in dangerous natural environments, despite personal fears. The validity of the Wilderness Courage Scale was tested using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The results of factor analyses verified the one-factor structure. The questionnaire’s inter...

This study further investigated the construct of courage in children. Children aged 8-13 years (n = 51) were interviewed about the most courageous action that they had ever performed during their life, and to retrospectively rate their level of fear and courage experienced during that event. On a separate occasion, children also completed the Courage Measure for Children (CM-C) as an index of c...

Lying supine, the technician uses my mask to bolt me to the treatment table. After he leaves the room, I feel alone, and at first, afraid. I see and hear the radiation machine move around me, but feel nothing. Minutes later, the door opens, and the mask is unbolted. This process is repeated almost daily for 2 months... After 2 weeks, the skin on my neck and inside my mouth becomes red, sore, an...

Consider a discourse situation where the speaker tries to convince the hearer of a particular point of view. The first task for the hearer is to understand what it is the speaker wants him to believe-to analyze the structure of the argument being presented, before judging credibility and eventually responding. This paper describes a model for the analysis of arguments that includes: • a theory ...