"Co wyraża twarz?" : rozpoznawanie ekspresji emocjonalnej twarzy przez osoby głuche i słyszące

An analysis of emotional functioning of deaf people is important for understanding their activities in different areas of life. Emotional functioning is related to emotional intelligence, which involves emotion perception and recognition as well as emotional expressiveness. The aim of the study was to compare the ability to recognize facial emotional expression among deaf and hearing people.

The present study was conducted on 80 individuals (40 deaf people and 40 hearing people). The Emotional Intelligence Scale – Faces (Matczak, Piekarska, Studniarek, 2005) and a set of photographs used by Paul Ekman in his study of basic emotions were used for the data collection.

The results obtained show that deaf people differ from hearing people in recognizing facial expressions. The analysis was conducted in terms of differences in recognition of expression of basic and complex emotions. The study included variables such as the moment of hearing loss (congenital or acquired deafness) or upbringing with deaf or hearing parents.