Individual psychological characteristics of children evaluated from photographs of their faces by adult observers

1066

Abstract

We studied the formation of representations of children faces observed by adult subjects. Adult participants (aged between 18 and 22) evaluate tenseness and activity of the children aged from 3 to 6 years. We tested the hypothesis of interaction between the perceived individual psychological characteristics of a person and the features of his face. It was discovered that a child’s activity estimate is connected to his/her facial angle between eye pupils and the upper lip. Children with a smaller middle part of the face and smaller distance between eyes are assessed as being more tense that the rest of the sample group. Tense expressions on children’s faces are associated with some faint traces of fear and anger.

General Information

Keywords: personality assessment, perception of children’s faces, middle part of the face, markers of activity and tenseness

Journal rubric: Cognitive Psychology

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/exppsy.2016090204

For citation: Khrisanfova L.A., Barabanschikov V.A., Zhegallo A.V. Individual psychological characteristics of children evaluated from photographs of their faces by adult observers. Eksperimental'naâ psihologiâ = Experimental Psychology (Russia), 2016. Vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 38–52. DOI: 10.17759/exppsy.2016090204. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

References

  1. Akimova M.K. Psihologicheskaya diagnostika [Psychological diagnosis]. St. Petersburg, Piter Publ., 2005. 303 p. (In Russ.).
  2. Diveev D.A. Rol formy lica v vospriyatii individualno-psihologicheskih harakteristik cheloveka: dis. ... kand. psihol. nauk [Role of the shape of the face in the perception of individual psychological characteristics of the person]. PhD thesis. Moscow, Institute of Psychology of Russian Academy of Sciences Publ., 2009. 144 p. (In Russ.).
  3. Barabanschikov V.A. Vospriyatie vyrazheniy lica [Perception of facial expressions]. Moscow, Institute of Psychology of Russian Academy of Sciences Publ., 2009. 448 p. (In Russ.).
  4. Barabanschikov V.A. Ekspressii lica i ih vosprijatie [Facial expressions and perception of it]. Moscow, Institute of Psychology of Russian Academy of Sciences Publ., 2012. 341p. (In Russ.).
  5. Mehanik N.S. Osnovy plasticheskoy anatomii  [Basics  of  plastic  anatomy].  Moscow,  Iskusstvo  Publ.,  1958.  432  p. (In  Russ.).
  6. Hoze E.G. Vosprijatie inducirovannyh ekspressij lica: dis. ... kand. psihol. nauk [Perception of induced facial expressions]. PhD thesis. Moscow, Institute of Psychology of Russian Academy of Sciences Publ., 2013. 140 p. (In Russ.).
  7. Khrisanfova L.A. Strukturnye osobennosti muzhskogo i zhenskogo lica vo vzaimosvyazi s individualno- psihologicheskimi osobennostyami cheloveka [A correlational study on the relationship between structural features of male/female faces and individual psychological characteristics of the person observed]. In V.A. Barabanschikov (ed.), Sovremennaya eksperimentalnaya psihologiya [Modern experimental psychology]: Pt. 2. Moscow, Institut psihologii RAN [Institute of Psychology of Russian Academy of Sciences] Publ., 2011. V. 2. Pp. 461–473 (In Russ.).
  8. Khrisanfova L.A. Vospriyatie individualno-psihologicheskih osobennostey cheloveka po izobrazheniyu sozdannyh modeley muzhskogo lica [ Individual psychological characteristics attributed to model male faces while perceiving various images showing them]. In V.A. Barabanschikov, V.N. Nosulenko, E.S. Samoylenko (eds.), «Poznanie v dejatel’nosti i obshhenii: ot teorii i praktiki k jeksperimentu» [Cognition in the activity and communication: from theory to practice and experiment]. Moscow, Institute of Psychology of Russian Academy of Sciences Publ., 2011. Pp. 317–326 (In Russ.).
  9. Chivardi D. Prakticheskaya enciklopediya hudozhnika. Lico i golova cheloveka. Anatomiya, morfologiya, mimika. Posobie dlya hudozhnikov [ Artist’s Practical Encyclopedia. The face and head of a man. Anatomy, morphology, facial expressions. Allowance for artists]. Moscow, Jeksmo Publ., 2005. 112 p. (In Russ.).
  10. Aldridge K., George I.D., Cole K.K., Austin J.R., Takahashi T.N., Duan Y., Miles J.H. Facial phenotypes in subgroups of pre-pubertal boys with autism specturm disorders are correlated with clinical phenotypes. Molecular Autism, 2011. doi: 10.1186/2040-2392-2-15.
  11. Boothroyda L.G., Meinsa E., Vukovica J., Burta D. M. Developmental changes in children’s facial preferences. Evolution & Human Behavior, 2014, vol. 35, no. 5, pp. 376–383.
  12. Carre J. M., Morrissey M. D., Mondloch C. J., McCormick C. M. Estimating aggression from emotionally neutral faces: Which facial cues are diagnostic? Perception, 2010, vol. 39, no. 3. pp. 356–377.
  13. Ewing L., Caulfield F., Read A., Rhodes G. Perceived trustworthiness of faces drives trust behaviour in children. Developmental Science, 2015, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 327–334.
  14. Grammer K., Thornhill R. Human (Homo sapiens) Facial Attractiveness and Sexual Selection: The Role of Symmetry and Averageness. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 1994, vol. 108, no. 3, pp. 233–242.
  15. Vingilis-Jaremko L., Maurer D. The influence of symmetry on children’s judgments of facial attractiveness. Perception, 2013, vol. 42, no. 3, pp. 302–320.

Information About the Authors

Lyudmila A. Khrisanfova, PhD in Psychology, Associate Professor, Chair of General Psychology, Moscow Institute of Psychoanalysis, Associate Employee of the Laboratory of Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6697-7939, e-mail: l.hri@mail.ru

Vladimir A. Barabanschikov, Doctor of Psychology, Professor, Director, Institute of Experimental Psychology, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Dean of the Faculty of Psychology, Moscow Institute of Psychoanalysis, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5084-0513, e-mail: vladimir.barabanschikov@gmail.com

Alexander V. Zhegallo, PhD in Psychology, Senior Researcher at the Laboratory of Systems Research of the Psyche, Institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Researcher at the Center for Experimental Psychology of MSUPE, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5307-0083, e-mail: zhegalloav@ipran.ru

Metrics

Views

Total: 2902
Previous month: 7
Current month: 16

Downloads

Total: 1066
Previous month: 1
Current month: 2