This study assessed the extent to which the use of gaze direction influenced sighted subjects' evaluations of the competence of four elementary-aged blind children. One hundred and sixty subjects were randomly assigned to four groups to view one of four videotapes of two visually impaired children without gaze direction (pretaining skill level) and two visually impaired children with gaze direction (posttraining skill level). Subjects viewed the same children, although not necessarily in the same order or in the same condition. Videotaped sequences showed a child conversing with two sighted adults responding to a randomized set of questions. Analyses revealed no difference in attitude toward blindness among groups but indicated that when children manifested gaze direction skills they were evaluated as having higher social competence, as being more intelligent, and as possessing greater ability to compete with sighted individuals as adults.
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