Researchers find that people in some countries worry much more than others about being laughed at. Transcript of radio broadcast: 08 December 2009
This is the VOA Special English Health Report.
Shy people often avoid situations that force close contact with other people. They worry that something they say or do will make others laugh at them.
But some people worry much more than others about being the target of laughter. These people are frightened. They suffer from an emotional disorder called gelotophobia. That long name comes from the Greek language. The word Gelos means laugh, while phobos means fear.
Victor Rubio is an expert on human behavior at the Autonomous University of Madrid. He says people laugh at others for many different reasons. He says being laughed at causes a fear response in the victim. That fear leads the victim to avoid social situations. Sadly, gelotophobia limits the way they lead their lives.
Victor Rubio was among researchers in a huge international study about laughter. The researchers wanted to understand the difference between normal shyness and true gelotophobia. Another goal was to measure the fear of being laughed at within different cultures.
A team from the University of Zurich led ninety-three researchers from many countries in search of answers.
The researchers surveyed more than twenty-two thousand people. They used questions provided in forty-two languages. Their findings were reported in the scientific publication Humor.
Some of the people questioned said they felt unsure of themselves in social situations. But they hid their feelings. Others said they avoided social situations where they had been laughed at before. People also admitted to differing levels of fear that they themselves were the targets of other people’s laughter. The researchers measured and compared all these reactions.
Fear of being laughed at, being made fun of, is a common emotion. But the researchers learned that these feelings differed from nation to nation.
For example, the study found that people in Turkmenistan and Cambodia are likely to hide insecure feelings when they are around others’ laughter. But people in Iraq, Egypt and Jordan who feel they have been victims before may avoid such situations.
People in Finland were the least likely to believe that people laughing in their presence were making fun of them. Only eight and a half percent of Finns said they would — compared to eighty percent of those questioned in Thailand.
What would you think? You can comment at voaspecialenglish.com.
And that’s the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I’m Steve Ember.
New H.I.V. infections are down an estimated 17 percent since 2001. But experts say prevention programs need to better target groups at risk. Transcript of radio broadcast: 01 December 2009
This is the VOA Special English Health Report.
Tuesday was World AIDS Day, and the latest report on the epidemic provided some reason to celebrate.
Experts say new H.I.V. infections have fallen by seventeen percent since two thousand one. Estimates for sub-Saharan Africa are down by about fifteen percent. In East Asia new infections with the virus that causes AIDS have decreased almost twenty-five percent.
In Eastern Europe, the epidemic has leveled off. But new infections appear to be rising again in some countries.
The report came last week from the UNAIDS program and the World Health Organization.
Students from the American University of Beirut light candles to bring attention to AIDS in Lebanon on World AIDS Day
It says H.I.V.-related deaths appear to have reached their highest point in two thousand four. Since the peak, deaths have fallen by around ten percent as more people have received treatment.
Experts credit the good news in the report at least in part to prevention programs, not just the natural progress of the epidemic. Yet the report points out that while the AIDS epidemic is changing, prevention programs are not.
Karen Stanecki at UNAIDS says few programs, for example, are designed for people in secure relationships. Or people over twenty-five. Or the newly single.
AIDS is the leading cause of death in women age fifteen to forty-four. Those are the main years for having children.
The W.H.O. is now advising infected women to begin antiretroviral drugs at fourteen weeks of pregnancy, instead of twenty-eight. Women are also advised to continue treatment through the recommended end of breastfeeding, when the baby is one year old. This reduces the risk of infecting the child.
Treatments and population growth mean more people than ever are living with H.I.V. The latest estimates say almost thirty-three and a half million have the virus. There were two million AIDS-related deaths last year, and two million seven hundred thousand new infections.
About two-thirds of the people with H.I.V. are in sub-Saharan Africa. Hardest hit is South Africa. On Tuesday, President Jacob Zuma announced an expansion of testing and treatment. By next April, he says, all H.I.V.-infected children less than one year old will receive treatment.
AIDS research continues. On Monday the United States said it will hold the two thousand twelve International AIDS Conference. The event has not taken place here since nineteen ninety because of restrictions against visitors with H.I.V. The travel ban will end January fourth.
And that’s the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. I’m Steve Ember.
