Face is a key concept in the study of Chinese behavioral patterns, cultural perceptions and the impact on the psychological well-being of the Chinese people. Face in Chinese society and culture often involves the exploration of two dimensions-earning face and saving face. Yet scholars at home and abroad currently tend to study face as a single dimension, focusing on face consciousness or the concern of losing face. In this study, the mechanism of the duality of face is explored, and it is found that wanting to earn face and fear of losing face are similar to the effects of promotion and prevention focus in Regulatory Focus Theory. The relationship between wanting to earn more face and fear of losing face and regulatory focus has not been explored in the current literature. Based on this, the present study used a combination of quantitative questionnaire approach and an empirical research paradigm to uncover the relationship and provide new explanatory perspectives on the mechanisms of face on individuals' mental health.
The results of Study 1 found that face has no direct influence on mental health, but rather indirectly influences mental health through the mediation of promotion and prevention focus. Study 2 further divided face into two dimensions: the desire to earn face and the fear of losing face, and analyzed the mediating role of regulatory focus on the different dimensions of face. The results of Study 2 found that individuals who wanted to earn face influenced their mental health through a combination of higher promotion focus and higher prevention focus, whereas individuals who feared losing face negatively influenced their mental health through higher prevention and lower promotion focus. Study 3 set up a manipulation experiment to initiate individuals' face-earning and face-losing experiences through a recall priming method, and assessed individuals' state regulatory focus and positive and negative affect. Results from Study 3 found that face initiation affects individuals' positive emotions exclusively through promotion focus, and that the experience of losing face had a greater negative effect on individuals with high levels of earning face trait than on those with low levels, with a similar effect found on individuals with high levels of the fear of losing face trait.
The present study provides a systematic study of the dual nature of face and the competitive mediating effect of regulatory focus as the motivational mechanisms behind it. This study enriches the existing research on the Chinese concept of face and deepens the understanding of its relationship between mental health.
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