I’m not a fan of masks–they’re uncomfortable, dirty, a hassle, and I’m not at all convinced that they do what they’re supposed to do, COVID-wise. That being said, if we have to do this, we might as well make a psychology lesson out of it.
One of the interesting challenges of mask-wearing is the effect of covering half your face on the ability of others to read your facial expressions. David Matsumoto, who studies facial expression and emotional recognition in depth, tells us there is no need to abandon the idea that we can still perceive emotion, and even deception, in a person wearing a mask. The eyes and upper face still provide cues, especially for fear and surprise.
On the other hand, one of the classic cues for deception is a “mismatch” of expression. We’ve all seen salespeople who smile with their mouths but not their eyes. If we’re only getting half of this information, I think it’s possible that a person in a mask can fool us more easily than one without. But it’s an empirical question!
If you’re really struggling with your social interactions with masked people, Dr. Matsumoto offers a course for improving your emotional reading skills. At $59, it’s a bit steep for my budget, but it sounds pretty interesting!
I hope that our mask-wearing days are soon behind us, but in the meantime, there are lots of interesting research questions to ask about their effects on behavior.
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