Imagine this situation.You pass a group of people.The people are talking to each other.You cannot hear what they are saying.But suddenly they start laughing.What would you think?Would you think they were laughingat something funny that one of them said?Or -- be honest with yourself-- would you think they were laughing at you?Yes, you.Being laughed at is a common fear.But a major study published in two thousand ninefound that this fear is not the same around the world.It differs from culture to culture.People in Finland were the least likely to believethat people laughing in their presencewere making fun of them.Less than ten percent of Finns in the study saidthey would think that,compared to eighty percent of people in Thailand.Some people in the study saidthey felt unsure of themselves in social situationsbut hid their feelings of insecurity.Others said they avoided social situationswhere they had been laughed at before.The study found that people in Turkmenistanand Cambodia were more likely to be in the first group.They would hide their feelings of insecurityif they were around other people's laughter.But people in Iraq, Egypt and Jordanwere more likely to try to avoid such situationsif they felt they had been laughed at before.Shy people often avoid situationsthat would force them into close contactwith other people.They worry that something they say or dowill make other people laugh at them.But some people worry much more than others.They may have a disorder called gelotophobia.Gelos is a Greek word. It means laughter.Phobia means fear.This fear of laughter can be truly sadfor those who live with it.It can affect how they lead their lives.In the study, a team from the University of Zurichled more than ninety researchers from around the world.They wanted to understand the differencebetween normal shyness and true gelotophobia.Another purpose of the studywas to compare the levels of fear of being laughed at in different cultures.The researchers surveyedmore than twenty-two thousand peoplein forty-two different languages.The findings appeared in the scientific journal Humor.And that's the VOA Special English Health Report.Is shyness a serious problem for you or someone you know?It was for a university student who asked peoplein our audience for advice on how to deal with it.You can find out what they said at 51voa.com-- where you can also read, listenand learn English with our stories.