Psycholinguistic features of expression of basic emotions in adolescents with intellectual disabilities: gender aspect

Abstract

Objective. The main purpose of the study was to determine the specifics of emotion perception and psycholinguistic features of the expression of basic emotions in adolescent boys and girls with intellectual disabilities. The scientific analysis focused on such aspects as speech style, activity, and passivity in the use of certain parts of speech, intonation, use of epithets and comparisons, creation of synonymous series, use of certain types of sentences, their construction, communication style, etc. in the context of expressing emotional states. feelings, experiences of adolescents.
 Materials & Methods. The ambiguity and lack of research on the problems of psycholinguistic aspects of the expression of basic emotions by boys and girls, in general, the complexity of psychodiagnostics of the emotional sphere of adolescents with intellectual disabilities led to the choice of research method: psychodiagnostic (projective method «Testing the ability to recognize emotions based on pantomime masks of the human face» (adaptation by M. Lebedeva), observation, interview with subsequent analysis of protocols, conversations (individual, group).
 Results. The main attention in the diagnostic process was focused on such important qualitative characteristics as recognition, differentiation and verbalization of emotions by adolescents. According to the results of the scientific analysis, the peculiarities of the perception of basic emotions by adolescents with intellectual disabilities were established. The main ones are described psycholinguistic accents of expression of emotions by the studied teenagers. Gender features of perception and expression of emotions by adolescents with intellectual disabilities during communicative activity are outlined.
 Conclusions. Gender features of emotion expression are more clearly outlined than differences in the emotions experienced by adolescent boys and adolescent girls with intellectual disabilities. Different is the «quality» of expression of emotions, feelings, experiences, not their «essence». In the process of communication and psychodiagnostics, rather low rates of differentiation of basic emotions, inconsistency of the correlation of emotions to the corresponding domain (distortion of the polarity of emotions) were stated. This indicates a lack of functions of understanding, differentiation, verbalization, and control of emotions in adolescents with intellectual disabilities. Misinterpretations of emotions can be attributed to the lack of skills of «speaking» feelings to adolescents, low level of attention to the psychological education of boys and girls, lack of psychological support or psychological support, and so on. From this, adolescents need additional measures, help to learn to control their own emotions, to understand the states, attitudes of people around them and situations.