中庸與轉念：以字詞分析體現中庸思維之情緒調節動態歷程(1)

A Linguistic Analysis of the Impact of Zhong Yong Thinking on Emotion Regulation

全局思維與陰陽轉換是中庸實踐體系中的重要特點。若個人在面對不同生活事件的衝擊時，能夠從中轉念抽離，置身於更大的格局中重新詮釋，使不至於陷落極端的情緒狀態，有助於個體的情緒調控，進而達到致中和的平衡。本研究應用字詞分析的研究取向，以情緒詞的使用比例變化，反映個體情緒調節的動態歷程。研究參與者首先進行正、負向事件的想像書寫，並以中庸信念價值量表將研究參與者區分為高中庸組（N = 49）與低中庸組（N = 42），比較兩者在情緒字詞使用上的變化差異。結果顯示，高中庸者在想像發生車禍的負向模擬書寫情境中，能夠較快地在書寫中減少使用高激發負向情緒詞，轉而增加低激發正向情緒詞；相對地，想像中樂透頭彩的正向模擬書寫情境中，亦能很快地在書寫中增加低激發負向情緒詞的使用比例，展現居安思危有備無患的特性。另一方面，本研究也展現了字詞分析的彈性優勢，能夠依據不同的文化修訂調整，相信未來在本土心理學相關研究領域深具應用潛力。

We applied a linguistic approach to explore how zhong yong (the doctrine of the mean) works on emotion regulation. 131 participants completed both positive and negative life events imaging writing tasks and the zhong yong belief-value scale. We used the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) program to analyze the text. Results showed that when imagining experiencing a negative event, high zhong yong individuals eventually wrote fewer high-arousal negative emotion words and more low-arousal positive emotion words than low zhong yong individuals. In contrast, when imagining experiencing a positive event high zhong yong individuals increased their use of low-arousal negative emotion words sooner than those low in zhong yong. Our findings highlighted that the pattern of emotion words usage while writing narratives could effectively reflect the dynamics of zhong yong and emotion regulation processes.