They are supposed to prevent the transmission of the corona viruses – but how do the face masks affect our social perception? A psychologist has now investigated the extent to which our ability to correctly recognize emotions in our fellow human beings suffers. The study results made it clear that if we can only see the area around the eyes of others, it is extremely difficult for us to read with facial expressions.
Partially masked figures now shape our everyday life: wearing a nose and throat protection is considered an important protective measure in the context of the Covid 19 pandemic. “Although more and more Europeans are now accepting such masks, many feel that wearing a mask affects social interaction. This is a major obstacle to the consistent wearing of the masks, ”says Claus-Christian Carbon from the Otto Friedrich University Bamberg.
In order to clarify the effect of the masks, the perception psychologist has now systematically checked how they affect the legibility of emotions. 41 volunteers between the ages of 18 and 87 took part in the study. As part of the tests, they were asked to rate the emotional expressions of twelve different faces. Each face was presented by chance with six different emotional expressions: happy, neutral, angry, disgusted, fearful and sad. The faces were either completely visible or covered by a mouth and nose protection, as many people currently wear against the contagion caused by the corona virus. Each study participant assessed a total of 144 facial images.
Emotions hardly recognizable
The evaluations clarified: “If the faces were covered by masks, the emotional reading of the study participants was severely impaired,” Carbon summarizes the result. “The participants recognized emotions less accurately and trusted their own assessment less often,” says the scientist. “It is also remarkable that there were characteristic misinterpretations of individual emotions.” For example, the test subjects often assessed a clearly disgusted facial expression with a mask as angry. On the other hand, they rated some emotions, such as happiness, grief and anger, as neutral. “So the emotional state was no longer recorded,” says the perception psychologist.
With this disadvantage of the protective measure, we must first come to terms with the situation. However, according to Carbon, we could at least compensate for the inability to read emotions by making greater use of the other communication channels: “For example, we can use more body language, gestures and verbal communication in order to continue to interact socially effectively,” says the perception psychologist.
Source: University of Bamberg