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Hostile Intent: Abused kids face up to angry expressions

By Bruce Bower

- More than 2 years ago

Physical abuse at home does more than leave some children with broken bones, burns, and other injuries. Scientists now suspect that, over time, this parental cruelty tunes a school-age child’s perceptual system to pick up signs of anger in others’ facial expressions.

MIXED EMOTIONS. Physically abused and nonabused kids viewed face images expressing a blend of emotions ranging, for example, from happy to fearful (lines 1 to 2) and angry to sad (lines 3 to 4).