Perception of emotions and attribution of acceptance by normal and emotionality disturbed children

In order to ascertain possible differences in perceptions of emotion and attribution of acceptance among normal children and those diagnosed as schizophrenic, neurotic, or character disordered (N=40), participants were tested with the Pictures of Facial Affect (Ekman & Friesen, 1976). When subjected to analysis of variance based on diagnostic category, age, and type of emotion, accuracy of perception data showed significant differences only for main effects of age and type of emotion, while attribution data showed significance only for the main effect of type of emotion. Results were discussed with respect to related studies and methodological refinements.