Katagelasticism
Katagelasticism
Human psychological condition
Katagelasticism is a psychological condition in which a person excessively enjoys mocking others. Katagelasticists actively seek and establish situations in which they can laugh at others (at the expense of these people). There is a broad variety of things that katagelasticists would do—starting from harmless pranks or word plays to truly embarrassing and even harmful, mean-spirited jokes.[1][2] They would be of the opinion that mocking others is part of the daily life and if others do not like being laughed at, they should just fight back.[1][2] For katagelasticists, it is fun mocking others and there is almost nothing that might hinder them from doing so. For them, some people might even provoke getting mocked and deserve being mocked.[1][2] This condition often makes it difficult for sufferers to gain and maintain acquaintances and romantic partners.[1][2]
The term was coined by Christian F. Hempelmann and Sean Harrigan[3] from katagelastēs (καταγελαστής), Ancient Greek for "mocker".