Negative interpretation bias towards ambiguous facial expressions in individuals with high empathy

IF 1.7 3区 心理学 Q3 PSYCHOLOGY, EXPERIMENTAL
Yuanyuan Fang, Haijiang Li
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Abstract

Previous studies have found that individuals with high empathy tend to describe ambiguous faces as negative expressions that convey helplessness. However, the cognitive mechanism behind this processing pattern (i.e. whether it is due to interpretation bias or perceptual sensitivity) and whether the pattern is specific to emotions implying helplessness or applicable to all negative emotions are still unclear. The present study aimed to fill these gaps. Fifty-four undergraduates with high empathy and fifty-four with low empathy completed an emotion recognition paradigm. In this paradigm, they were presented with sad–happy and angry–happy expression continua and then were asked to indicate which emotion the presented facial images most resembled. For the sad–happy continuum, the high-empathy group showed higher shift points compared to the low-empathy group, but with comparable slopes. No significant differences were found when using the angry–happy continuum. The findings indicate that the negative facial recognition of high empathizers is attributed to interpretation bias rather than perceptual sensitivity, and this pattern is specific to faces conveying helplessness. This may help to understand the distress in high empathizers and lay the groundwork for alleviating mental and interpersonal problems of high-empathy individuals through interpretation bias intervention.

Abstract Image

高移情能力者对模糊面部表情的负面解释偏差
以往的研究发现,移情能力强的个体倾向于将模棱两可的面孔描述为传达无助感的负面表情。然而,这种处理模式背后的认知机制(即它是由于解释偏差还是知觉敏感性造成的),以及这种模式是专门针对暗示无助的情绪还是适用于所有负面情绪,目前仍不清楚。本研究旨在填补这些空白。五十四名移情能力强的大学生和五十四名移情能力弱的大学生完成了一个情绪识别范式。在这一范式中,我们向他们展示了 "悲伤-快乐 "和 "愤怒-快乐 "的连续表情,然后要求他们指出所展示的面部图像与哪种情绪最为相似。与低移情组相比,高移情组在 "悲-喜 "连续表情上的移情点更高,但斜率相当。在使用 "愤怒-快乐 "连续统时,没有发现明显的差异。研究结果表明,高移情者的负面面部识别归因于解释偏差,而不是知觉敏感性,而且这种模式是传达无助感的面部所特有的。这可能有助于理解高移情者的痛苦,并为通过解释偏差干预缓解高移情者的心理和人际问题奠定基础。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
5.40
自引率
4.20%
发文量
69
期刊介绍: Motivation and Emotion publishes articles on human motivational and emotional phenomena that make theoretical advances by linking empirical findings to underlying processes. Submissions should focus on key problems in motivation and emotion, and, if using non-human participants, should contribute to theories concerning human behavior.  Articles should be explanatory rather than merely descriptive, providing the data necessary to understand the origins of motivation and emotion, to explicate why, how, and under what conditions motivational and emotional states change, and to document that these processes are important to human functioning.A range of methodological approaches are welcome, with methodological rigor as the key criterion.  Manuscripts that rely exclusively on self-report data are appropriate, but published articles tend to be those that rely on objective measures (e.g., behavioral observations, psychophysiological responses, reaction times, brain activity, and performance or achievement indicators) either singly or combination with self-report data.The journal generally does not publish scale development and validation articles.  However, it is open to articles that focus on the post-validation contribution that a new measure can make.  Scale development and validation work therefore may be submitted if it is used as a necessary prerequisite to follow-up studies that demonstrate the importance of the new scale in making a theoretical advance.
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