Face masks reduce emotion-recognition accuracy and perceived closeness
Protective face masks have become omnipresent in public life. People wear them when grocery shopping, when sitting on the bus, and when interacting with others at their work. While the medical benefits of face masks are clear, whether and how face masks influence the dynamics of our interactions with others is only poorly understood. Many people feel that face masks make it harder to know what others are feeling, or whether others can be trusted. But is this actually true?
Online experiment
To find out researchers from the University of Groningen conducted an online experiment in which they presented participants with portrait photographs of individuals expressing various emotions. For half of the participants, parts of the presented faces were covered by a face mask. Once a photograph was presented, participants indicated what emotion the person expressed and how they perceived the person.
‘Reading’ emotions
The study confirmed that face masks indeed make it harder to accurately ‘read’ others’ emotions. Face masks also make others appear less close, possibly leading people to move closer – a counterproductive response that undermines virus containment measures. Surprising effects were found when masked faces expressed negative emotions: Masked persons who express anger, sadness, or disgust were seen as more trustworthy, likable, and less distant compared to people not wearing face masks. A positive consequence may be that distressed people wearing a face mask may be more likely to receive assistance from others when needed.
Consequences
Overall, face masks undoubtedly shape people’s everyday interactions. They influence the accuracy with which they recognize emotions as well as their social judgements. Hence, people, politicians, and policy makers should be mindful of face masks’ consequences above and beyond the medical context. The study on face masks’ consequences for emotion perception and social judgments is published in the scientific magazine PLOS ONE .
Contact
Last modified: | 28 May 2021 1.36 p.m. |
More news
-
06 November 2023
Liekuut | ‘Free beer’ won't solve any crises
It is election time, which means politicians are trying to win over voters. Promises, plans, and solutions for every single problem abound. But, will voting for the right person with the right plan really help us in the long run? Michel Dückers,...
-
06 November 2023
UG researchers develop board game Floreraar?! to strengthen resilience of teachers in training
UG researchers Irene Poort and Marjon Fokkens-Bruinsma of the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences have developed a board game as part of the NRO project ‘Life is tough but so are you’. The game is called 'Floreraar?!’, or ‘flourisher’, and...
-
31 October 2023
Horrifying images also present in people who have not experienced war
‘Intrusions’ are spontaneously, involuntarily occurring intruding images or thoughts of a traumatic event. Traumatic experiences are often the trigger, for example in the context of violence, disasters or war. In her PhD thesis, Patricia Dashorst...