Abstract
Eyebrow curvature, opening of the eyes, and, within naturalistic or stylistic mouth, opening or form of the mouth were related to occurrences of the names of the emotions “afraid,” “happy,” “mad,” “surprised,” and “sad” with 4-, 5-, and 6-year-old females and males who were predominantly white and middle class in background. With naturalistic mouths, combinations of arched eyebrows, open eyes, and open mouth evoked “afraid” and, less often, “surprised.” Arched eyebrows with relatively closed eyes and mouth evoked “happy,” and straight eyebrows, regardless of eyes and mouth, evoked “mad.” “Sad” occurred infrequently. The stylistic U-shaped mouth evoked “happy,” and the stylistic inverted-U mouth evoked “sad,” both regardless of eyebrows and eyes. These generalizations held across age, sex, repetition of presentation, and place and time of participation of the children.
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We appreciate the cooperation of the directors, parents, and children of the REM Country Day School and Camp, of the Livingston College Daycare Center, and of the Pine Grove Cooperative Nursery School. Suggestions by Jean L. Burton and Richard K. Lore and by Donald F. Pratt were helpful.
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Paliwal, P., Goss, A.E. Attributes of schematic faces in preschoolers’ use of names of emotions. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 17, 139–142 (1981). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333691
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333691