Differences in Recognition and Judgement of Negative Emotions between Blind and Sighted People

Jolanta Sak-Wernicka

doi:10.18290/rh.2016.64.10-7

Jolanta Sak-Wernicka The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Faculty of Humanities

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/rh.2016.64.10-7

Keywords: blindness; emotions; communication; interpretation

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate whether people who are blind are able to recognise and judge negative emotions during natural communication similar to people who are sighted. In the current study, blind, sighted and blindfolded participants were given two tasks and they were tested on their ability to recognise target emotions (the emotion recognition task) and to judge the intensity of the emotions (the emotion judgement task). The results revealed significant differences between the groups in the recognition and judgement of negative emotions. The study shows that people who are blind may encounter difficulties in recognising emotions and judging their intensity during natural communication. This may be related to their lack of access to the speakers’ gestures, facial expressions and body postures

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