The purpose of this project is to determine whether there are universals in the patterning and behavioral correlates of infant facial expressions, and whether infant facial expressions closely resemble the universal facial expressions of emotion demonstrated by cross-cultural research. The study will, investigate facial expressions and nonfacial behavioral responses in 10-month-old infants in the United States, China, and Japan. The infants will be videotaped in situations designed to elicit happiness, surprise, fear, anger, sadness, and disgust. Two different eliciting situations will be used for each emotion, selected on the basis of previous empirical research and/or theoretial grounds (e.g., visual cliff and approach of a masked stranger for fear, arm restraint and removal of a desirable object for anger). Facial expressions will be coded using a comprehensive, anatomically based coding system for infants (Baby FACS). Independent nonfacial measures (e.g. reaching, withdrawal, hitting movements) will be coded, and the infants' nonfacial responses will be judged by naive raters. Four specific issues will be addressed: (1) Do infants show reliably different patterns of facial expressions in different eliciting situations? (2) Are specific patterns of facial expression reliably related to specific nonfacial behaviors? (3) Do American, Chinese, and Japanese infants show similar patterns of facial expression in each situation? (4) To what extent do infant facial expressions resemble adult universals? Our findings will have major significance for evaluating theories of emotion and emotional development.
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