Some new research was just released that studied children’s recognition of facial expressions. It was previously thought that even infants could recognize expressions for the emotions of happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise and disgust. Dr. James Russell’s study questions this and he says that at age 2, kids can identify happy but they categorize all negative faces as angry. At 3 they can also do sad and more accurately identify anger. Fear and surprise come next and last, at age 5, disgust. Children can understand the meanings of the emotions earlier than they can interpret facial expressions.
During vacations, when we are with our kids more, it’s a good time to practice making faces. Just for fun, make faces that show happy, sad, surprise, fear, anger and disgust. Who can do the best ones? Hotels often have really big mirrors so you can do them together. When people watching, notice their expressions. If you are visiting a quite new and unfamiliar place, the different facial features may add an element of challenge to interpreting facial expressions for us and more so for our kids.
In any case, for parents and caregivers, this new research means that we need to also tell kids how we and others are feeling and not just rely on what faces show. For children with developing visual skills this is especially important. And if someone is wearing sunglasses! What other implications are there for you in regards to this new study?