National Face and National Identity: The Political Psychology of International Relations

What motivates our perceptions and attitudes in the realm of international relations? Does the concern for “face” play a role? How does national face interact with national identity and what are their consequences? Treated traditionally as culture-bound, do only East Asians have face needs? This research investigates a key construct that originates in East Asian culture, face, and explores its manifestations and consequences at the national level cross-culturally. It argues that, while concerns for national face do shape our perceptions and attitudes, the concepts of and approaches to national face can differ across cultures. By illuminating its role in different cultures, the overarching goal of this interdisciplinary study is to enhance cross-cultural understanding in the hope of reducing potential intergroup conflict.

National face is here defined as the national self presented to other nations. Results from a pilot study show that at the national level, face is constituted from three unique sources: universal morality, international performance, and intra-national performance. In Study 1, I distinguish and examine the relation between national face and national identity. Findings suggest that the stronger the participants’ identification with the nation, the greater the salience of national face. In Study 2, I explore the manifestations of national face above and beyond national identity by employing the scenario experiment method online in China, Taiwan, and U.S. Results indicate that across both East and West, national face concern was highest for intra-national performance, while concern for face gain condition was significantly higher than face loss condition in East Asia. In Study 3, I investigate the consequences of national face on political attitudes, namely, foreign policy orientation including nationalistic tendency and threat perception, using the experiment method online. Findings show that compared with face gain condition, face loss condition increased aggressive attitudes such as threat perception and nationalistic tendency.