Reported History of Childhood Abuse and Young Adults’ Information Processing Biases for Facial Displays of Emotion

Date

2008

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Child Maltreatment

Abstract

The primary goal of this study was to examine the relations between young adults’ reports of childhood abuse and their current attention and interpretation biases for facial displays of emotion. Consistent with prediction, individuals reporting a history of moderate to severe childhood abuse exhibited preferential attention to angry faces and increased sensitivity in the detection of angry expressions at lower levels of emotional intensity. Both the attention and interpretation biases were specific to angry rather than happy or sad faces. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that experiences of childhood abuse may contribute to the development of experience-specific information-processing biases. (Author Abstract)

Description

Keywords

research, long term effects, child abuse

Citation

Gibb, B. E., Schofield, C. A., & Coles, M. E. (2008). Reported history of childhood abuse and young adults' information processing biases for facial displays of emotion. Child maltreatment, 14(2), 148-156.

DOI