Vráblová Viktória, Halamová Júlia
Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Institute of Applied Psychology, Comenius University in Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia.
Front Psychol. 2025 Jan 15;15:1363993. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1363993. eCollection 2024.
Self-protection, also called protective anger or assertive anger, is a key factor in mental health. Thus, far, researchers have focused mainly on the qualitative analysis of self-protection.
Therefore, we investigated facial action units, emotions, and vocal cues in low and high self-protective groups of participants in order to detect any differences. The total sample consisted of 239 participants. Using the Performance factor in the Short version of the Scale for Interpersonal Behavior (lower 15th percentile and upper 15th percentile) we selected 33 high self-protective participants (11 men, 22 women) and 25 low self-protective participants (eight men, 17 women). The self-protective dialogue was recorded using the two-chair technique script from Emotion Focused Therapy. The subsequent analysis was performed using iMotions software (for action units and emotions) and Praat software (for vocal cues of pitch and intensity). We used multilevel models in program R for the statistical analysis.
Compared to low self-protective participants, high self-protective participants exhibited more contempt and fear and less surprise and joy. Compared to low self-protective participants, high self-protective participants expressed the action units the following action units less often: Mouth Open (AU25), Smile (AU12), Brow Raise (AU2), Cheek Raise (AU6), Inner Brow Raise (AU1), and more often Brow Furrow (AU4), Chin Raise (AU17), Smirk (AU12), Upper Lip Raise (AU10), and Nose Wrinkle (AU9). We found no differences between the two groups in the use of vocal cues.
These findings bring us closer to understanding and diagnosing self-protection.
自我保护，也称为保护性愤怒或果断愤怒，是心理健康的关键因素。到目前为止，研究人员主要集中在对自我保护的定性分析上。
因此，我们调查了高自我保护组和低自我保护组参与者的面部动作单元、情绪和声音线索，以检测是否存在差异。总样本包括239名参与者。我们使用人际行为量表简版中的表现因子（第15百分位数以下和第15百分位数以上），选择了33名高自我保护参与者（11名男性，22名女性）和25名低自我保护参与者（8名男性，
17名女性）。使用聚焦情绪疗法的双椅技术脚本记录自我保护对话。随后使用iMotions软件（用于动作单元和情绪）和Praat软件（用于音高和强度的声音线索）进行分析。我们在R程序中使用多层模型进行统计分析。
与低自我保护参与者相比，高自我保护参与者表现出更多的轻蔑和恐惧，更少的惊讶和喜悦。与低自我保护参与者相比，高自我保护参与者较少表现出以下动作单元：张嘴（AU25）、微笑（AU12）、扬眉（AU2）、提颊（AU6）、皱眉内侧（AU1），而更多表现出皱眉（AU4）、抬下巴（AU17）、假笑（AU12）、上唇上抬（AU10）和皱鼻（AU9）。我们发现两组在声音线索的使用上没有差异。
这些发现使我们更接近对自我保护的理解和诊断。
