不对称情绪分享过程中情绪反应自我指向增强效应的初探

主客体之间产生不一致的情绪反应称之为不对称共情(Counterempathy)。在Decety提出的情绪分享过程两阶段及Goubert提出的“指向自己”和“指向他人”两种情绪反应指向的研究基础上, 构建不对称情绪分享过程的两阶段模型, 通过创建竞争环境, 检验在不对称情绪分享过程中是否存在情绪反应自我指向增强效应的这一假设。被试根据竞争对手的情绪表情(皱眉和笑脸)来完成情绪反应自我指向(判断被试者自己的输赢)和情绪反应他人指向(判断竞争对手的输赢)的实验任务。结果表明: 在不对称情绪分享过程中, 存在情绪反应自我指向的增强效应。被试不仅在自我指向任务中产生了不对称共情, 而且在他人指向任务中也产生了不对称共情, 这说明在有意识的不对称情绪分享过程中, 个体会分化出比他人指向更强烈的自我指向的情绪反应。并且, 相较他人指向任务, 个体在自我指向任务中产生了更强烈的不对称共情。尤其当竞争对手获利时, 个体会产生更强烈的指向自我的负性情绪。

The Enhancement of Self-orientation on Counterempathy

The biological predisposition to resonate emotionally with another person is regarded as a critical aspect of social interaction. However, the emotional responses to others are often discordant with the object’s (target’s) emotional experience. The discrepant emotional responses are called “counterempathy”. Based on the research of the two-stage process of emotion sharing proposed by Decety, and “self-oriented” and “other- orientated” emotional responses proposed by Goubet, we built the counterempathic emotion sharing process model under a competitive environment. Here we propose that in the counterempathic emotional sharing process, the individuals tend to generate stronger “self- oriented” emotional response compared to the "other-oriented" emotional response. The experiment was designed to test the enhancement effect of self- orientation on counterempathy by manipulating the orientation (self vs. other-orientation) and competitor’s facial expressions (frown vs. smile). Participants (10 men; 19 women) were convinced that they were playing a card game with another player seated in the adjoining room. They were requested to make judgment of the participants’ own win/lose and generate “self- oriented” emotional response through the competitor’s facial expressions (smile/frown) presented on the computer screen, similarly, to make judgment of the competitor’s win/lose and generate “other-oriented” emotional response. Reaction time, accuracy were collected during the tasks. To assess the manipulating effect of orientation, participants were required to complete emotional self-assessment scale at the end of each manipulating phase; and we analyzed the results using repeated-measures analyses of variance (ANOVAs) with Orientation (self vs. other- orientation) and Facial Expressions (frown vs. smile) as within-subjects variables. We observed a clear enhancement effect of self-orientation on counterempathy. Participants responded with an asymmetric emotion towards the competitor automatically both in the “self-oriented” and “other-oriented” condition. Participants had a higher accuracy and showed stronger asymmetric valence ratings to the competitor in the “self-oriented” condition compared to “other-oriented” condition; besides, they responded slower and showed more negative valence ratings to the competitor's winning in the “self-oriented” condition. The results of the study support the enhancement effect of self-orientation on counterempathy. The results indicate that individuals could respond with asymmetric emotion towards their competitors automatically not only in the “self-oriented” condition, but also in the “other- oriented” condition, suggesting that the individuals tend to generate stronger “self- oriented” emotional response, while Decety only mentioned the “other-oriented ”emotional response which induces empathic concern in the conscious emotional sharing process. Moreover, “self-oriented” condition strengthens individuals’ asymmetric emotional response compare to “other-oriented” condition, especially for the competitor's winning.