On the Dimensions Preschoolers Use to Interpret Facial Expressions of Emotion

Dimensions of the meaning attributed to facial expressions of emotion were studied in preschoolers (nineteen 4-year-olds, twenty-one 3-year-olds, and thirty-eight 2-year-olds) plus thirty adults. Subjects indicated the similarity or dissimilarity between different emotions by placing photographs of emotional facial expressions into preordained numbers of groups. For each age group, multidimensional scaling of the pairwise similarities yielded a two-dimensional structure in which the expressions fell in a roughly similar circular order. Its dimensions could be interpreted as degree of pleasure and degree of arousal. Four-year-olds and adults also produced a third dimension, tentatively interpreted as assertiveness versus taken aback.