Responses to the Negative Emotions of Others by Autistic, Mentally Retarded, and Normal Children

Marian D. Sigman*, Connie Kasari, Jung‐Hye ‐H Kwon, Nurit Yirmiya

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

287 Scopus citations

Abstract

Attention, facial affect, and behavioral responses to adults showing distress, fear, and discomfort were compared for autistic, mentally retarded, and normal children. The normal and mentally retarded children were very attentive to adults in all 3 situations. In contrast, many of the autistic children appeared to ignore or not notice the adults showing these negative affects. As a group, the autistic children looked at the adults less and were much more engaged in toy play than the other children during periods when an adult pretended to be hurt. The autistic children were also less attentive to adults showing fear, although their behavior was not different from the normal children. Few of the children in any group showed much facial affect in response to these situations. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of affect in the social learning experiences of the young child.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)796-807
Number of pages12
JournalChild Development
Volume63
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 1992
Externally publishedYes

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