Fear of losing face and desire to gain face: The effect of face consciousness on materialism

IF 1.6 3区心理学 Q3 PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL

Asian Journal of Social Psychology Pub Date : 2025-08-15 DOI:10.1111/ajsp.70041

Hongting Su, Ling Yang, Qing Dong

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Materialism can have numerous negative effects on college students’ psychology and behaviour. Previous research has theoretically predicted that face consciousness leads to materialism. Therefore, this study examined the strong predictive association between face consciousness and materialism using experimental evidence. Moreover, this study explored the effect of face message framing on materialism to determine the relative importance of fear of losing face and desire to gain face. Experiment 1 examined the impact of trait and state face consciousness on materialism among undergraduate students in the mainland of China using a questionnaire survey and a behavioural experiment. The results indicated that face consciousness predicted materialism. Building on this, Experiment 2 from the perspectives of trait and state face consciousness explored the effect of face message framing on materialism among undergraduate students in the mainland of China using a questionnaire survey and a behavioural experiment. The results revealed that fear of losing face had a stronger influence on materialistic values than desire to gain face. Our study enriches the psychological mechanisms from the motivational perspective of college students’ materialism and provide experimental evidence for developing targeted interventions to reduce materialism among college students by addressing face consciousness.

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怕丢脸和想要面子：面子意识对物质主义的影响

唯物主义会对大学生的心理和行为产生许多负面影响。先前的研究从理论上预测，面子意识会导致物质主义。因此，本研究利用实验证据检验了面孔意识与物质主义之间的强预测关联。此外，本研究还探讨了面部信息框架对物质主义的影响，以确定害怕丢脸和渴望获得面子的相对重要性。实验1采用问卷调查和行为实验的方法，考察了特质和状态面子意识对中国大陆大学生物质主义的影响。结果表明，面孔意识预示着物质主义。在此基础上，实验二采用问卷调查和行为实验，从特质和状态面孔意识的角度探讨了面孔信息框架对中国大陆大学生物质主义的影响。结果显示，对丢脸的恐惧对物质价值观的影响要大于对赢得面子的渴望。本研究从动机的角度丰富了大学生物质主义的心理机制，并为制定针对性的干预措施以减少大学生的面子意识提供了实验依据。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Asian Journal of Social Psychology PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL-

CiteScore

4.60

自引率

4.20%

发文量

期刊介绍： Asian Journal of Social Psychology publishes empirical papers and major reviews on any topic in social psychology and personality, and on topics in other areas of basic and applied psychology that highlight the role of social psychological concepts and theories. The journal coverage also includes all aspects of social processes such as development, cognition, emotions, personality, health and well-being, in the sociocultural context of organisations, schools, communities, social networks, and virtual groups. The journal encourages interdisciplinary integration with social sciences, life sciences, engineering sciences, and the humanities. The journal positively encourages submissions with Asian content and/or Asian authors but welcomes high-quality submissions from any part of the world.