社会权力影响面部表情加工的ERP研究

The accurate perception of others’ facial expressions forms the basis of successful social interactions. Recent evidence indicates that social power modulates facial expression processing. However, evidence regarding whether high or low power leads to more sensitivity in recognizing others’ facial expressions has been inconsistent. Previous behavioral studies did not manipulate the power of individuals and their counterparts, which might hinder our understanding of this issue.The present study manipulated the social power of an emotion observer (perceiver) and emotion expresser (target) and investigated the ways in which the social power of both groups modulates facial expression processing based on event-related potentials and an oddball paradigm. Two studies were conducted to (1) examine the interactive effects of both groups’ social power on facial expression processing, (2) explore the differential effects of dispositional and situational power on facial expression processing, and (3) investigate the time course of social power on facial expression processing. The participants were assigned to high-power (HP) and low-power (LP) groups based on scores on the Sense of Power Scale (Study1),or they were assigned to HP and LP groups that were primed by a power episode(Study2). The participants were then asked to view and detect dynamic emotional changes from a high-power or low-power target while behavioral responses and electroencephalograms were recorded.The findings have important theoretical value for further understanding the processing of facial expressions and may provide important insights into organization management.

准确地识别他人的面部表情是社会交往的重要基础。最近，研究发现社会权力影响了面部表情的加工。但是关于高权力者或低权力者对他人表情的加工更敏感的问题，当前的研究结果并不一致。由于以往研究主要采用行为技术，又没有同时操纵交往双方的权力，这在一定程度上影响了对该问题的探讨。因此，本项目拟采用修正的oddball范式，结合ERP技术，系统考察交往双方的权力水平影响个体对他人面部表情加工的发生机制。研究内容：（1）个体和他人权力影响表情加工的交互机制；（2）特质性权力和情境性权力影响表情加工的机制；（3）权力影响表情加工的时间进程。具体来讲，本研究通过问卷测量（研究1）和情境启动（研究2）产生高、低权力个体，然后要求他们观察和检测高权力或低权力目标的面部情绪变化，同时记录个体检测情绪变化时的行为和ERP数据。本项目对于进一步了解面部情绪加工的本质具有重要的理论价值，同时对组织管理也有应用价值。

社会权力如何影响情绪的加工是情绪心理学和社会心理学研究的热点议题之一。之前的研究发现，情绪观察者（个体权力）和表达者的权力（目标权力）水平均能够对面部表情的识别产生影响，但是个体权力和目标权力如何影响面部表情的认知神经机制并不清楚。因此，本项目拟采用修正的oddball范式，结合ERP技术，系统考察交往双方的权力水平影响面部表情加工的发生机制。结果发现；（1）个体权力和目标权力独立影响面部表情的加工，个体权力和目标权力能够增加个体对面部表情的早期（P1，VPP成分）或后期（N3，P3成分）；（2）特质性和情境性个体权力均能够影响面部表情的加工，但是特质性个体权力主要影响面部表情的早期加工（P1成分），而情境性个体权力主要影响面部表情的后期加工(P3成分)；（3）在互动情境下，个体对于高权力评价者的表情更敏感，表现出权力对于面部表情早期（P1成分）或晚期成分（P3成分）的增强效应，并且这种效应受到奖励条件的调节。总之，研究发现权力能够影响面部表情的早期和晚期阶段的加工，并且这种效应受到权力类型、表情类型和任务类型的调节。本研究结果表明情绪根植于社会情境，并且对于进一步了解面部情绪加工的社会情境本质具有重要的理论价值。