41-1 Losing Face and Emotions in a Social Comparison Situation: The Effects of Face-Sharing Member and the Openness of Situation
This study focused on the effects of ＂forced comparison (the message of ＂I'm worse than others＂ was perceived by oneself) and ＂third party comparison (the same message was stated by others)＂ on participants' feelings of losing face and emotions. The results showed that participants rated higher degree of no face in the context of third party comparison than that of forced comparison. Participants in both contexts experienced the feelings of depression and embarrassment. When the comparison was made by the third party, participants also experienced the feelings of being humiliated and hurt. The condition of ＂forced comparison＂ was further divided into two groups: there was vs. there was not a face-sharing member (mother) in the context. The results showed that participants experienced higher degree of losing face when there was a family member in the context. In addition to the basic feelings of depression and embarrassment, participants also experienced the feelings of regret and guilty with the presence of a family member. Similarly, the condition of ＂third party comparison＂ was further divided into two groups: stating the message ＂privately＂ vs. ＂publicly＂. The results indicated that if one's bad performance was stated publicly rather than privately, one would experience stronger feelings of losing face. As to the emotions, participants experienced depression, embarrassment, regret, and guilty feelings when in a private situation. On the contrary, if the situation was in front of others, participants would still experience the feelings of depression and embarrassment along with humiliation, hurt, and anger. To explain the results, the cognitive perspective of self-blamed vs. other-blamed for emotions was discussed.
Keywords
emotion ； losing face ； social comparison ； social-contingent self-esteem
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