Hostile Intent: Abused kids face up to angry expressions
By Bruce Bower
Physical abuse at home does more than leave some children with broken bones, burns, and other injuries. Scientists now suspect that, over time, this parental cruelty tunes a school-age child’s perceptual system to pick up signs of anger in others’ facial expressions.
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Physically abused kids adapt to their harsh reality by developing an emotional radar for glimmers of anger, theorizes psychologist Seth D. Pollak of the University of Wisconsin–Madison.