Who would study psychology if they didn't have some kind of problem?

Chapter 300 Emotional Induction
dong dong dong-

"Come in," Nan Zhuren called out, glancing over in the direction of the voice.

He had a buzz cut, black-rimmed glasses, a light, unshaven beard, and wore a loose school uniform that completely obscured his figure.

He has the very typical image of a high school boy, and the kind of boy whose grades must be pretty good.

"Hello teacher."

Upon seeing Nan Zhuren, the student immediately bowed deeply at a 60-degree angle, then stood somewhat helplessly by the door.

"Hello, please have a seat." Nan Zhuren quickly pointed to the seat opposite him.

It is much easier to conduct experiments and provide psychological counseling to high school students than to college students or adults.

—Because high school students are surprisingly obedient when facing the role of "teacher".

However, everything has its advantages and disadvantages. This obedience can make high school students extremely cooperative with the procedures in experiments led by "teachers," and they will not stray from the experiment to ask random questions or deliberately cause trouble;
However, in psychological experiments, the impact on research goes far beyond just the "experimental procedure".

The participants' own state is also an important additional variable affecting the experiment.

For example, at this moment, the high school student in front of me is polite and cooperative, but unusually reserved and nervous.

Today, Nan Zhuren and his team's work on collecting micro-expression data is based on an experimental paradigm adapted from the "emotion-inducing experiment".

Experiments involving emotions require participants to be in a stable state at the beginning, otherwise it may cause a lot of interference.

Being in a state of excessive tension or excessive excitement is also not good.

—The latter is why Nan Zhuren chose to collect data from male students, while assigning the task to Chonghui from female students.

The tension that accompanied the politeness of the student in front of them might overshadow the emotions of the other targets that Nan Zhuren and his group wanted to investigate.

Fortunately, Nan Zhuren was in charge of this data collection.

"It's alright, relax." Nan Zhuren simply lowered his voice and calmed his tone.

Simply offering words of comfort.

Within half a minute, he saw a satisfactory change in the student.

……

The experiment got off to a good start.

Because it requires one-on-one interaction with students, surveillance cameras were installed in the consultation room, which originally had no cameras, after it was converted into a studio.

“Classmate—” Nan Zhuren began to recite the instructions according to the procedure.

"We're going to conduct a short psychology experiment next. Throughout the experiment, we'll use this camera to record your natural reactions."

Nan Zhuren pointed to the camera next to him, and then gestured to the computer.

"Next, please put on your headphones and pay attention to the center of your computer screen. We will be presenting images, audio, and text content in sequence. You don't need to do anything; just react naturally to what appears."

Because a new subject had to be rotated every ten minutes or so, Nan Zhuren's instructions were extremely brief.

Some lazy experimenters will even set the instructions directly as their screensaver on their computer screen to give themselves a little more breathing room.

However, Nan Zhuren felt that his voice could bring more benefits to the experiment and help the accuracy of experimental data collection, so he chose to put in more effort.

Of course, what Nan Zhuren and his students are calling an "experiment" is actually just a relatively simple "data collection." Compared to a real experiment, the process has been somewhat simplified.

For example, there are no regular "experimental exercises".

Nan Zhuren observed the students' reactions.

He said, "Alright, let's begin now."

The computer screen flashed, and an image appeared on it.

—[On the basketball court, the class won the school basketball tournament, and everyone cheered and high-fived each other.]

—[After class, two girls sitting next to each other are sharing a song using one pair of headphones, their smiles radiant.] —[In the bushes of the neighborhood, a little boy is building a shelter for a stray cat, while a little girl nearby pets and feeds the kitten.]

—[In a sunlit café window seat, a girl is enjoying a cream cake adorned with strawberries.]

—[…]

Each image is paused for about 15 seconds after it appears, which not only allows students to see a significant change at first glance, but also gives them time to immerse themselves, react, and become engaged.

Nan Zhuren leaned back slightly, his gaze encompassing both the students' reactions and the camera screen.

On the screen, the students stared intently at the computer, completely absorbed.

In Nan Zhuren's eyes, the students' faces seemed to be divided into countless blocks by transparent lines, and whenever the computer images changed, a special change would immediately occur in different blocks, making them light up.

[Turn the corners of your mouth up, then purse your lips.]

There are slight movements inside the mouth, possibly the tongue pressing against the roof of the mouth.

Now, his eyebrows are relaxed, his eyes are unfocused, and his attention is involuntarily fluctuating.

[Slight wrinkles under the eyes, forming crow's feet—wait, crow's feet at this age?]

These images are all original works by Chonghui and Baiqinghua's research group; some are photographs taken by real people, while others are drawings.

The screening of fifteen images representing positive emotions quickly came to an end.

This is followed by two more neutral images as a transition.

There's nothing noteworthy about the micro-expressions in this part.

Then, new pictures appeared.

—[A hand with bulging veins gripped the pen; a test paper lay flat on the table, covered with large blank spaces and red crosses.]

—[A student eats alone in the cafeteria, head down, surrounded by a blurred and indistinct crowd.]

—On the running track at dusk, a student's lonely figure casts a long, solitary shadow.

—[The digital clock displays the time [23:59], and the table is piled high with study materials and coffee cups.]

--【funeral.】

—[…]

With the screening of this batch of pictures.

The student shifted in his chair, seemingly a little uneasy.

Compared to the previous fifteen images, these fifteen images are much more impactful and can evoke a wider variety of emotions.

Therefore, the students' facial expressions changed much more this time.

[Lift the inner corners of the eyebrows. 】

The corners of her mouth turned down, and her lower lip trembled slightly.

[His gaze shifted for a moment, avoiding eye contact, before he had to refocus it.]

Frequent blinking.

[Clenching teeth and swallowing more frequently.]

【…】

OK, that concludes the image display.

Compared to the beginning, although only a few minutes had passed, the students now showed signs of slight fatigue.

The constant switching between positive and negative emotions is like repeatedly bending an iron bar in two directions; it's actually more tiring than being immersed in negative emotions for a long time.

(End of this chapter)