Mechanisms of emotional response in children with mental retardation

Abstract

The article examines the characteristic mechanisms of the emotional response of children with mental retardation. The study of domestic authors on this issue is carried out within the framework of identifying the specifics of emotional manifestations and assessing the emotional response in children and adults. A comparison is made of the characteristics of perception, diff erentiation and understanding of various emotions, the manifestation of emotional reactions by children with disabilities and children with normal mental development. The study involved 260 children aged 9–10 years, including 130 children with mental retardation and 130 schoolchildren with normal mental development. Research methods are projective methods and conversation. Children with mental retardation carry out the identifi cation of emotions using a more non-verbal channel, diff erentiate the bodily response to situations, experience diffi culties in verbalizing their emotions and isolating cause-and-eff ect relationships between the situation and the emotion. Children with normal mental development perceive and diff erentiate emotions through verbal manifestations, highlight causal relationships between the situation and emotion, and verbalize their emotional manifestations.

Keywords

• emotional response
• children with mental retardation
• bodily reactions
• identifi cation of emotions
• non-verbal channel