P. A. Russell

The Development of Theory of Mind in Deaf Children

Deaf children aged 4 to 16 years were given a false-belief test of theory of mind. Although the children experienced difficulty with the test, relative to hearing children, confirming a report by Peterson and Siegal (1995), performance was age-related, with a significantly higher proportion of 13- to 16-year-olds passing the test. It was concluded that deaf children raised in a spoken language environment show a developmental delay in theory of mind acquisition. This delay is consistent with the assumption that their early opportunities for learning about mental states are relatively restricted and that the normal development of theory of mind is dependent upon such opportunities.

The Matching of Facial Expressions by Deaf and Hearing Children and Their Production and Comprehension of Emotion Labels

This paper reports the results of three tasks comparing the development of the understanding of facial expressions of emotion in deaf and hearing children. Two groups of hearing and deaf children of elementary school age were tested for their ability to match photographs of facial expressions of emotion, and to produce and comprehend emotion labels for the expressions of happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, and surprise. Accuracy data showed comparable levels of performance for deaf and hearing children of the same age. Happiness and sadness were the most accurately matched expressions and the most accurately produced and comprehended labels. Anger was the least accurately matched expression and the most poorly comprehended emotion label. Disgust was the least accurately labeled expression; however, deaf children were more accurate at labeling this expression, and also at labeling fear, than hearing children. Error data revealed that children confused anger with disgust, and fear with surprise. However, the younger groups of deaf and hearing children also showed a tendency to confuse the negative expressions of anger, disgust, and fear with sadness. The results suggest that, despite possible differences in the early socialisation of emotion, deaf and hearing children share a common understanding of the emotions conveyed by distinctive facial expressions.

Knowledge of Display Rules in Prelingually Deaf and Hearing Children

Deaf children of elementary and secondary school age participated in a study designed to examine their understanding of display rules, the principles governing the expression and concealment of emotion in social situations. The results showed that deaf childrens knowledge of display rules, as measured by their reported concealment of emotion, was comparable to that of hearing children of the same age. However, deaf children were less likely to report that they would conceal happiness and anger. They were also less likely to produce reasons for concealing emotion and a smaller proportion of their reasons were prosocial, that is, relating to the feelings of others. The results suggest that the understanding of display rules (which function to protect the feelings of other people) may develop more gradually in deaf children raised in a spoken language environment than it does in hearing children.

The influence of gender roles on evolved partner preferences

Evolutionary psychologists argue that there are reliable sex differences between men and womens partner preferences, such that men attach greater importance than women to physical attractiveness, whereas women are more concerned than men with commitment and status. The present study proposed that gender roles may moderate these sex differences. A total of 143 participants completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and rated the importance of several partner characteristics. Categorical and regression analyses showed that both sex and sex-typing had a significant impact on partner preferences. These findings are discussed in terms of a trade-off threshold model of partner preferences, such that masculine women may engage in some trade-off of commitment characteristics for physical attractiveness and feminine men may trade-off attractiveness for signs of willingness to commit.

Testing the Aesthetic Significance of the Golden-Section Rectangle

The aesthetic significance of the golden-section rectangle was tested in two studies designed to obviate some of the criticisms of earlier experiments. In the first, employing the method of use, the mean sides-ratios of samples of paintings from five subject-matter categories (landscape, still life, head-and-shoulders portrait, upper-body portrait, full-length portrait) provided no evidence for the significance of the golden section. However, the sides ratio of portraits varied between categories in ways that were consistent with the requirements of the proportions of the subject matter. In the second study, using the method of production, participants produced the most pleasing four-sided shape, under four instruction conditions. Under a ‘portrait painting’ condition and a ‘landscape painting’ condition, the mean sides-ratios differed significantly from the golden section. Under two ‘context free’ geometric shape conditions—horizontal rectangle and vertical rectangle—the mean sides-ratio approximated the golden section. The results are discussed in terms of the methodological requirements for a valid test of the aesthetic significance of the golden section and the possibility that this ratio may indeed have special significance.

Theory of mind in nonhuman primates: A question of language?

Two substantive comments are made. The first is methodological, and concerns Heyess proposals for a critical test for theory of mind. The second is theoretical, and concerns the appropriateness of asking questions about theory of mind in nonhuman primates. Although Heyes warns against the apparent simplicity of the theory of mind hypothesis, she underplays the linguistic implications.

Niche construction at the “workface” of the human behavioural sciences

Niche construction is a potentially important concept for the human behavioural sciences but we question how it differs from models of gene-culture coevolution and whether it can be developed in the detailed ways that will be necessary if it is going to make a significant contribution to the human behavioural sciences.