Kathleen Higgins
mail to: khiggins@anselm.edu
The Ability to Recognize Facial Expressions Increases Social Competence in Preschool Children
| Background | Research Question | Method |
| Results | Implications | Relevant Links |
Background
Boyatiz and Chazan (1993) found a gender difference for preschool children's ability to recognize facial expressions, with females being superior to their male peers. MacDonald and Kirkpatrick (1996) found that a better ability to recognize facial expressions is correlated with high popularity, academic achievement and external locus of control in children.top
Method
Eleven children (4 female, 7 male) between the ages of 3.0 and 4.7 were administered two tests. First, the children were given Harter and Pike's Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children (1983). Several days later the children were given a modified version of Ekman and Friesen's Pictures of Facial Affect (1976).
Results
The findings of this study demonstrated no significant gender difference for facial expression recognition or social competence. A positive correlation was found between the ability to recognize facial expressions and social competence. Thus, the better a child was at interpreting a facial expression the higher the child's social competence will be.
Implications
The findings of this study could be applied to research with handicapped children. For example, a deaf child may have a high ability to recognize facial expressions because they can not hear the words that accompany the expression and therefore, can only rely on facial expressions.Relevant Links
- http://www3.usal.es/~nonverbal/introduction.htm -site of links to specific areas of nonverbal communication
- http://www.janhargrave.com/quizes.htm -fun quiz testing your ability to recognize nonverbal communication
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