在華人社會中，沒面子或丟臉是一心理困境，會引發強烈的情緒反應。 然而， 若進一步思考， 當個人感到丟臉或處於一沒面子的情境時， 引發的 情緒內涵究竟為何， 則似乎又一片矇矓， 很難三言兩語說清楚， 因為每一 次失面子或丟臉的情緒感受並不盡然一致， 有時可能是羞愧地想找個地洞 鑽進去， 有時又很可能會氣到想和對方拼個你死我活， 有時卻又是羞愧和 生氣這兩種情緒兼而有之。過去的研究雖然也曾探討面子和情緒之間的關 係， 但並未深究沒面子事件本身之情境特質是否和不同的情緒相關聯。然 而， 對華人而言， 面子是一種依附於社會情境的自尊(social contingent self-esteem)， 個人雖然可能因為在某一社會情境下， 他人對自己行為或能 力的低評價而感到沒面子， 但此社會情境中的相關因素， 例如由表現不好 的當事人私下知覺自己不如人， 或因表現不好而被公開指責， 雖然都會令 人產生沒面子的感受， 其引發的情緒內涵則都可能很不一樣。因此本研究 的目的之一便是想釐清： 沒面子事件的情境公開與否， 以及此沒面子事件 發生時， 是否有其他臉面共享的家人在場等因素， 是否影響當事人對該情 境的沒面子感受以及情緒內涵。此外， 此沒面子事件發生時， 情境中的互 動對象是否擁有權威(和當事人的關係為上、下vs. 水平)，以及個人的愛面 子、爭面子特質在能力表現失敗的情境中， 對於個人的沒面子感受以及經 驗到的情緒內涵， 又可能具有什麼樣的效果， 則是研究二想再進一步探討 的議題。 It is apparent that losing face is a distress for Chinese. However, if we ask what’s the feeling underlies losing face, the answer seems to remain unknown. For the emotions we experience in each single losing face episode are different, sometimes it’s ashamed, sometimes it’s angry, and sometimes it may mix the feelings of shame and anger. Though previous studies have explored the linkage between losing face and emotions, those researches did not investigate the potential effects of factors related to the social context. For face is a kind of social-contingent self-esteem for people grown up in a Confucian society. One will experience losing face in a social context where others have negative comments to his/her ability or behaviors. However, some factors related to that specific context, such as the message of “I’m not good (or not as good as others)” was perceived implicitly by oneself or was discussed explicitly by others might have different effects on the target’s feelings of losing-face and makes the target experience different kind of emotions. Therefore, the first purpose of this study is to investigate how the openness of a face-losing social context affects people’s feeling of losing face and the contents of emotions. Previous studies have found that Confucian society is relatively more authority-oriented compared to its Western counterpart. It is reasonable to predict that the criticism given from a vertical relation (with authority) or horizontal relation (without authority) might have different threatening effects to one’s face. In addition, not everyone has the same concern for face, therefore, will one’s protective vs. acquisitive face orientation have some moderating effects on the feelings of losing face and the contents of emotions is the second purpose of this study.
