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Emotions and masks: what does psychology say? 1:16
(CNN) - Britain is the latest to join a long list of countries that are demanding the use of face masks to curb the spread of covid-19: face shields on British public transport are mandatory starting Monday.
Many more of us are choosing to wear face masks while shopping, meeting friends, and going to medical appointments, even if it's not required.
- READ: Summer has arrived and now you sweat with the mask: we leave you some solutions
But how does the use of the mask shape the way we interact or communicate with others?
A smile is an easy strategy to calm social tensions, but can we still do it when a mask covers the lower half of our face? Also, will it be more difficult to decipher the emotions of the people we meet?
CNN spoke to communications expert Ursula Hess, who is also a psychologist and professor at the Humboldt University in Berlin.
How do we communicate our emotions?
It is a mistake to assume that masks will make interaction difficult for us, Hess said.
We express our feelings in many different ways that do not depend on the lower part of our face, he explained. They can be subtle gestures, such as raising an eyebrow for example, or explicit, such as hitting a table with your fist.
What's more, smiles don't necessarily have to be seen, Hess said, they can also be heard. This is because when the mouth changes shape, it alters the voice. "The difference is clear. We can all listen when someone smiles on the phone. ”
WHO asks to encourage the use of face masks 0:34Additionally, some emotions are not registered on our faces, he added. For example, hope.
"How would you think to communicate that with your face? But we have the expression 'with a hopeful voice', so clear that we believe that voices can express hope, but faces do not. ”
It's all in the eyes
Hess indicated that most people are good at detecting a variety of different emotions in the eyes and upper face, even if they are not aware of it.
A widely used assessment, developed by British psychologist Simon Baron-Cohe in the 1990s to help examine autism, revealed that most people recognize even subtle mental states like being thoughtful just by looking at changes in expression. of the eyes.
- READ: Wearing a mask at home may help stop the spread of the coronavirus among family members
The test "The Reading the Mind in the Eyes" (which translates into "The reading of the mind in the eyes" measures how well you can identify the emotions of others. Subjects are asked to observe images from different areas around of the eyes and assigned the correct emotional states, said Hess, professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge.
You can take the assessment here.
Hess explained that normally our eyes are drawn to activity, and if the mouth is covered we will focus on the upper part of the face.
“You see more than just the eyes: you see the entire region. You see the wrinkles on the forehead, the wrinkles between the eyes, and when the cheeks swell up when smiling, you also see that movement, "he explained.
Are the fabric masks useful? 0:54"You should think carefully about Botox. If you are covering your mouth and immobilizing the upper face, you are not doing your interlocutor any favors ”, he completed.
Fear and surprise
However, there are some emotions that can be difficult to decipher if you can't see someone's mouth, Hess said.
“With fear and surprise, the component in the upper part of the face is very similar. The main difference is the shape of the mouth, which is loose in the case of surprise and stretched to the side when it comes to fear. "
"This would be an obvious candidate for confusion," said Hess.
For parents concerned that masks may scare young children returning to school or daycare, Hess said that masks should not affect most children over the age of 5.
That easy would the covid-19 spread in restaurant 1:24"We know from developmental research that children become good enough to recognize the emotions of others from the moment they start going to school, and have access to the same tools as adults," he said.
“When they are very young, the things that cover the face can be disturbing. At first, they may be bothered by a beard, "he said.
He added: “But it is a matter of habit. They'll get used to the fact that mom and dad wear these fun things on their faces. "
Now, masks should also not interfere with the contagious nature of emotions. Hess has studied in depth how we imitate the feelings of others: with tears when seeing someone cry, fearful when watching someone tremble with fear or happy when someone smiles.
- LOOK: The masks seem to work to fight the coronavirus, even if some reject them and the US exceed 100,000 deaths
New research, which has not yet been published in a scientific journal, Hess said he observed how people reacted to individuals wearing a scarf and a nicab, the veil worn by some Muslim women that covers the face but maintains the area of the clear eyes. This is not the same as a hijab, which covers the head and not the face.
"We looked at whether people imitated the expressions (of others) even though they could only partially see them and basically they do," he said.
What do you think about the masks?
Although Hess said that most of us have innate abilities to decipher and respond to emotions in the eye region, there are other factors that can interfere with whether we can actually do this.
For example, what an individual thinks about the merits of wearing masks is likely to affect the way they communicate with someone who wears a face mask. Official guidelines in places like the US and Britain has been contradictory, particularly in the early days of the pandemic, leading to confusion and different attitudes regarding its use.
How to dispose of face masks? 1:09In the United States especially, the wearing of masks has become a contentious issue, which a recent CNN story cited as a "political and cultural tipping point."
"Masks are a form of social signal: They tell you something about the person wearing the mask," said Hess.
"If you think wearing a mask is unnecessary or utter idiocy, then it may give you a bias against this person (who is wearing a mask), making communication difficult," he explained.
The reverse is also true, he said.
"If you understand the reasons behind the masks and endorse them, then you have a totally different perspective on the person wearing the mask, and communication is likely to be much more seamless," he added.
In our current reality, until researchers develop an effective vaccine, we will have to get used to communicating with others while practicing preventive measures such as wearing masks.
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