This study found that the emotional facial expressions of 10 congenitally blind and 10 sighted children, aged 8–11, were similar. However, the frequency of certain facial movements was higher in the blind children than in the sighted children, and social influences were evident only in the expressions of the sighted children, who often masked their negative emotions.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BowlbyJ. (1969). Attachment and loss, Vol 1: Attachment.London: Hogarth Press.
2.
BrambringM., & TrösterH. (1992). On the stability of stereotyped behaviors in blind infants and preschoolers. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 86, 105–110.
3.
BrodyL. R., & HallJ. A. (1993). Gender and emotion. In LewisM., & HavilandJ. M. (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (pp. 447–461). New York: Guilford Press.
4.
CamrasL. A., & AllisonK. (1989). Children's and adults’ beliefs about emotion elicitation. Motivation and Emotion, 13, 53–70.
5.
ColeJ. (1998). About face.Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
6.
DarwinC. (1965). The expression of the emotions in man and animals.Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Original work published 1872).
7.
DeutschF. M. (1990). Status, sex, and smiling: The effect of role on smiling in men and women. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 16, 531–540.
8.
EkmanP., & FriesenW. V. (1969). The repertoire of nonverbal behavior: Categories, origins, usage, and coding. Semiotica, 1, 49–98.
9.
EkmanP., & FriesenW. V. (1978a). The Facial Action Coding System: Investigator's guide.Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
10.
EkmanP., & FriesenW. V. (1978b). Manual for the Facial Action Coding System.Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
11.
Eibl-EibesfeldtI. (1970). Ethology: The biology of behavior.New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
12.
Eibl-EibesfeldtI. (1973). The expressive behaviour of the deaf-and-blind-born. In Von CranachM., & VineI. (Eds.), Social interaction and movement (pp. 163–194). London: Academic Press.
13.
FraibergS. (1971). Intervention in infancy: A program for blind infants. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 10, 381–405.
14.
FraibergS. (1977). Insights from the blind.New York: Basic Books.
15.
FreedmanD. G. (1964). Smiling in blind infants and the issue of innate versus acquired. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 5, 171–184.
16.
FulcherJ. S. (1942). “Voluntary” facial expression in blind and seeing children. Archives of Psychology, 272, 5–49.
17.
GalatiD., & GarneriA. (1992). Aspetti dell'esperienza emozionale ed affettiva nei non vedenti [Some aspects of emotional and affective experiences in blind people]. In GalatiD. (Ed.), Vedere con la mente (pp. 267–288). Milan: Franco Angeli.
18.
GalatiD., GuidaS., MiceliR., & SiniB. (1998). L'espressione facciale delle emozioni nei bambini ciechi congeniti: Codifica e riconoscimento delle espressioni facciali di un gruppo di soggetti tra il terzo ed il quinto anno di vita [Facial expression of emotion in congenitally blind children: Coding and judging the facial expressions of a group of subjects aged between three and five years]. Ricerche di Psicologia, 22, 45–79.
19.
GalatiD., MiceliR., & SiniB. (2001). Coding and judging the facial expression of emotions in congenitally blind children. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 25, 268–278.
20.
GalatiD., SchererK. R., & Ricci-BittiP. E. (1997). Voluntary facial expression of emotion: Comparing congenitally blind to normal sighted encoders. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 1363–1380.
21.
GoodenoughF. L. (1932). Expression of emotions in a blind-deaf child. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 27, 328–333.
22.
HallJ. A. (1987). On explaining gender differences: The case of nonverbal communication. In ShaverP., & HendrickC. (Eds.), Sex and gender (pp. 177–200). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
23.
IzardC. E. (Ed.). (1971). The face of emotion.New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
24.
IzardC. E. (1979). The Maximally Discriminative Facial Movement Coding System (Max). Unpublished manuscript, Instructional Resource Center, University of Delaware, Newark.
MandlerG. (1984). Mind and body.New York: W. W. Norton.
27.
OrtegaJ. E., IglesiasJ., FernandezJ. M., & CorralizaJ. A. (1983). La expression facial en los ciegos congenitos [Facial expressions in the congenitally blind]. Infancia y Apredizaje, 21, 83–96.
28.
RinnW. E. (1991). Neuropsychology of facial expression. In FeldmanR. S., & RimeB. (Eds.), Fundamentals of nonverbal behavior (pp. 31–72). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
29.
RosensteinD., & OsterH. (1988). Differential facial responses to four basic tastes in newborns. Child Development, 59, 1555–1568.
30.
SokolovJ. N. (1963). Perception and the conditioned reflex.Oxford, England: Pergamon Press.
31.
SteinerJ. E. (1979). Human facial expressions in response to taste and smell stimulation. In ReeseH., & LipsittL. P. (Eds.), Experimental child psychology, 2nd ed. (pp. 257–293). New York: Academic Press.
32.
SternD. N. (1985). The interpersonal word of the infant: A view from psychoanalysis and developmental psychology.New York: Basic Books.
33.
StoppardJ., & Gunn GruchyC. D. (1993). Gender, context, and expression of positive emotion. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 19, 143–150.
34.
SuomiS. J., & HarlowH. F. (1976). The facts and functions of fear. In ZuckermannM., & SpielbergerC. D. (Eds.), Emotions and anxiety: New concepts, methods, and applications (pp. 3–34). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
35.
ThompsonJ. (1941). Development of facial expression of emotion in blind and seeing children. Archives of Psychology, 37, 1–47.
36.
TrevarthenC. (1985). Facial expression of emotion in mother-infant interaction. Human Neurobiology, 4, 21–32.