Research Institute of Child Development and Education, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA.
Psychophysiology. 2018 Oct;55(10):e13201. doi: 10.1111/psyp.13201. Epub 2018 Jun 6.
Physiological responses can reveal emotional states that individuals are unwilling to admit to others. Here, we studied what blushing reveals about the emotional states of narcissistic children. Narcissistic children (i.e., those high on the personality trait of narcissism) have a pervasive sense of grandiosity. We theorized that narcissistic children are so invested in their sense of grandiosity that even modest praise can make them feel depreciated. Because narcissistic children may not admit this feeling to others, we measured their physiological blushing: an involuntary reddening of the face that occurs when individuals anticipate being depreciated. Unlike other emotional expressions, blushing cannot be faked. Children (N = 105, ages 7-12) completed the Childhood Narcissism Scale and were then invited to sing a song on stage. They were randomly assigned to receive inflated praise (e.g., "You sang incredibly well!"), modest praise ("You sang well!"), or no praise for their performance. Blushing was recorded using photoplethysmography and temperature sensing. Afterward, children were asked how much they thought they had blushed. As predicted, narcissistic children-unlike nonnarcissistic children-blushed when they received modest praise, not when they received inflated praise. Specifically, they showed increased blood volume pulse (i.e., fast changes in blood volume with each heartbeat). Strikingly, when asked, narcissistic children denied blushing, perhaps to hide their vulnerabilities. Thus, blushing revealed social-evaluative concerns that narcissistic children wished to keep private.
生理反应可以揭示个体不愿向他人承认的情绪状态。在这里，我们研究了脸红揭示了自恋儿童的情绪状态。自恋儿童（即那些具有自恋人格特质的儿童）有一种普遍的自大感。我们推测，自恋儿童对自己的自大感如此投入，以至于即使是适度的赞美也会让他们感到被贬低。由于自恋儿童可能不会向他人承认这种感觉，我们测量了他们的生理脸红：当个体预期被贬低时，面部会不由自主地变红。与其他情绪表达不同，脸红是无法伪装的。孩子们（N=105，年龄 7-12 岁）完成了《儿童自恋量表》，然后被邀请在舞台上唱歌。他们被随机分配接受夸大的赞美（例如，“你唱得太好了！”）、适度的赞美（“你唱得很好！”）或对他们的表演不给予任何赞美。使用光体积描记法和温度感应记录脸红。之后，孩子们被问到他们认为自己脸红了多少。正如预期的那样，自恋儿童——与非自恋儿童不同——在受到适度赞美的时候会脸红，而不是在受到夸大赞美的时候。具体来说，他们的血液体积脉冲增加（即每次心跳时血液量的快速变化）。引人注目的是，当被问到是否脸红时，自恋儿童否认了，也许是为了隐藏自己的脆弱。因此，脸红揭示了自恋儿童希望保密的社会评价问题。
