Accuracy of vocal emotional communications among children and adults and the power of negative emotions

Two tapes of six emotions (anger, fear, sadness, contentment, happiness, love) recorded by child and adult speakers were played to child and adult listeners to determine whether (a) each group of listeners responds more accurately to positive or negative emotions; (b) each group of speakers communic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of communication disorders 1977-06, Vol.10 (4), p.301-314
Main Authors: Fenster, C.Abraham, Blake, Lily Klebanoff, Goldstein, Alan M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age Factors
Anger
Auditory Perception
Communication
Emotions
Fear
Happiness
Human Development
Humans
Love
Voice
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Summary:Two tapes of six emotions (anger, fear, sadness, contentment, happiness, love) recorded by child and adult speakers were played to child and adult listeners to determine whether (a) each group of listeners responds more accurately to positive or negative emotions; (b) each group of speakers communicates positive or negative emotions more accurately; (c–g) there were specific ways in which children and adults differ in accuracy of perceiving and communicating the six emotions studied. Two hundred and ten white, male, middle-class Ss were used. It was found that (a) all listener groups perceived negative emotions more accurately; (b) all speaker groups communicated negative emotions more accurately; (c) there was a developmental trend in the ability to accurately perceive vocal communication; (d) children and adults did not differ significantly in the ability to express emotions; (e) adults perceived fear more accurately; (f) children communicated fear more accurately; (g) adults communicated sadness more accurately than children.
ISSN:0021-9924
1873-7994
DOI:10.1016/0021-9924(77)90028-4