People suffering from facial paralysis are sometimes wrongly perceived as unhappy, a new research shows.
Facial paralysis is a result of damage to facial nerve. People with the condition are not able to express their feelings through the face and a smile becomes an awkward grimace or worse, an expressionless void. This leads to self consciousness and people start feeling socially isolated.
The findings of the current study shed light on the important role played by the face and also show that people might be prejudiced against those with facial paralysis because of their disability, Kathleen Bogart, an assistant professor of psychology in the College of Liberal Arts at Oregon State University, explained in a press release
"People are more wary and more likely to form a negative impression of someone with a disability," Bogart said. "Identifying that stigma is the first step to addressing it. Facial paralysis is highly visible. Everyone notices there's a difference, but people have no idea why. They don't understand the nature of the condition."
In order to determine how people with facial paralysis are seen by others, Bogart and her colleagues conducted an experiment. Participants were shown videos of people with facial paralysis recounting happy or sad experiences using various communication channels like just the face, the face and the upper body, gestures or with no voice. They compared how emotions are perceived based on different forms of communication.
Their findings revealed that people with facial paralysis face stigma. However, these people mostly depend on a combination of communication channels to perceive emotions. "It's not all about the face," Bogart said. "Studies like this tell us more about the way people communicate, verbally and non-verbally."
The study was published in the journal Basic and Applied Social Psychology.
