Differences Between High and Low Self-Critics in Compassionate Facial Expression

The goal of this study was to identify differences between high and low self-critical participants in relation to compassionate facial expressions. Our convenience sample consisted of 151 participants aged 18-59 years old (M = 25.17; SD = 7.81). The highest and the lowest scoring participants in self-criticism were selected for final analysis (N = 35). Participants, at home alone, watched a short video stimulus eliciting compassion while their facial expressions were recorded using webcams. Out of the sample we selected the highest 10% and the lowest 10% of self-critical participants according to the Slovak norms of The Forms of Self-Criticizing/Attacking and Self-Reassuring Scale. Two certified Facial Action Coding System raters (FACS) coded the participants' muscular activity according to facial action units. The FACS analysis revealed that action units 4 - brow lowerer, 7 - lids tight, 43 - eyes closed, 45 - blink, 55 - head tilt left, and 56 - head tilt right occurred significantly less often in high self-critical participants than in low self-critical participants, controlling for the difference between the baseline and compassionate moments in the video stimulus. Our research found that participants high in self-criticism were less facially expressive than those low in self-critical when watching compassionate video.