Reappraisal: An important skill

What emotions do you see when you look at these faces?

image via:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7041164.stm 

image via:  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/art/fear1.jpg 

According to studies, most typical teenagers interpret it as shock or sadness when really it is fear. When your kid is saying they are afraid you will be upset at them for doing something...it may be this face they picture.
Misinterpreting emotions on faces is not just something that kids and adults with ASD (autistic spectrum disorder,) have trouble with. Children and teenagers wrestle with it too. There are numerous emotion/nonverbal communication and social apps and computer programs designed to teach individuals with autism the facial expressions of emotions. Its not only facial expressions that they have trouble with, it is also judging whole social situations.  Interpreting situations that they find troubling are challenging to individuals on the autistic spectrum. They may just ignore their feelings, rather than analyzing the situation to come up with a more plausible conclusion. This is the piece of social interaction that needs to be dealt with and taught instead of endlessly quizzing your child on other's expressions or to constantly remind them to make eye contact.

The Four Forms of Reappraisal
image via:  http://anders.janmyr.com/:
"Notes on Your Brain at Work"

Stanford researchers find that ASD individuals use less effective emotional regulation strategies than neurotypicals. Many use suppression of feelings rather than use reappraisal of situations in interpreting social interactions. This is the key to successfully dealing with others in social situations. It's not the misreading of faces, its what you do with the information. What other information is available to support the reaction? What other possibilities are there to explain the interaction. It's looking at the whole scenario rather than focusing on the minutia of perhaps culturally and individually variable facial expressions and verbal responses.

image via:  http://www.sitkins.com/blog/bid/41347/Office-Politics-Does-it-have-an-impact-on-your-results 

Reappraisal is important because you work through the possibilities of the problem to get to an acceptably plausible answer. If your friend doesn't acknowledge you when you greet them, it can be perceived as a snub, and then you suppress your hurt feelings, or you can reappraise the situation as maybe they were distracted or busy or didn't notice you said something. More often the ASD individual will attribute it to the negative interpretation and stuff hurt feelings rather than working through the social possibilities and coming up with the more socially and emotionally comfortable answer that the friend may have been busy and not noticed the greeting.

image via:  http://s3.cinemagnetics.com/artwork.html

If the goal is to teach useful skills for life, putting the emphasis on reappraisal rather than recognizing facial expressions may be the most beneficial way to go. Teaching emotions is important, especially to help your child label their own emotions and have some idea of how others feel. Teaching possibilities, and flexible thinking is even more important.



Source:
http://nesca-news.blogspot.com/2012/08/stanford-researchers-investigate.html
http://anders.janmyr.com/2012/05/notes-on-your-brain-at-work.html
interview with Deborah Yurgelun-Todd
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/interviews/
http://blog.autismspectrumdirectory.com/2011/01/14/ipad-ipod-touch-and-iphone-apps-non-verbal-and-social-communication-by-body-language/