Masking Emotions: Face masks impair how we read emotions(frontiersin.org)
frontiersin.org
Masking Emotions: Face masks impair how we read emotions
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.669432/full
68 コメント
As mask mandates started to disappear, I found myself dreading showing my whole face again. It takes considerable mental effort for me to choose the "correct" facial expression, and masks hide a conspicuous twitch in the corner of my mouth. Perhaps ironically, masks made me feel more confident in public and more willing to engage with strangers at e.g. the grocery store.
I found myself more comfortable walking around grocery stores as I was more free to lick my lips, talk quietly to myself, mouth curse words when I couldn't find the spice I needed, etc. I could extend a little of my home life to public life without disturbing my fellow humans.
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Specifically, a mask obstructing a face limits the ability of people of all ages to infer emotions expressed by facial features, but the difficulties associated with the mask’s use are significantly pronounced in children aged between 3 and 5 years old.
IMO masks are severely harming social and interpersonal development of young children, but any suggestion of removing the masks creates shit storm of controversy. The solution seems to be online learning, but it’s worth noting that a major group pushing for masks in school (teachers) are the same pushing online teaching. IMO That’s a disingenuous conflict of interest, but since pediatricians are also pushing masks for children in school, what’s the solution here? Maybe the solution is to create little plastic enclosed boxes so no child gets within 3 feet or 4 feet of another child. Everyone is surrounded by plastic like they are Hannibal Lecter, but at least they can see the smile on each other’s face…
IMO masks are severely harming social and interpersonal development of young children, but any suggestion of removing the masks creates shit storm of controversy. The solution seems to be online learning, but it’s worth noting that a major group pushing for masks in school (teachers) are the same pushing online teaching. IMO That’s a disingenuous conflict of interest, but since pediatricians are also pushing masks for children in school, what’s the solution here? Maybe the solution is to create little plastic enclosed boxes so no child gets within 3 feet or 4 feet of another child. Everyone is surrounded by plastic like they are Hannibal Lecter, but at least they can see the smile on each other’s face…
> IMO masks are severely harming social and interpersonal development of young children, but any suggestion of removing the masks creates shit storm of controversy.
That's because serious illnesses which are easily transmitted can severely harm social and interpersonal development.
Yes, kids do mostly OK with covid, but their parents and other close contacts may not. If wearing masks brings the risk level down enough to have school in person, that's probably better than online school without masks.
That's because serious illnesses which are easily transmitted can severely harm social and interpersonal development.
Yes, kids do mostly OK with covid, but their parents and other close contacts may not. If wearing masks brings the risk level down enough to have school in person, that's probably better than online school without masks.
matz1(6)
The solution is to not be utterly ridiculous about it.
You can take the masks off when you are at home with your own kids.
You can take the masks off when you are at home with your own kids.
This is yet another "controversy" that I don't get. We're very strict about our children (and ourselves) wearing masks during public activities and around any people we know to be unvaccinated (i.e. other kids).
Our kids still see other people's faces all the time. They see our faces, they see other kid's faces during meals / snacks, they see adult faces from a slight distance when we're outside.
Our kids still see other people's faces all the time. They see our faces, they see other kid's faces during meals / snacks, they see adult faces from a slight distance when we're outside.
The solution for now is outdoor schooling. Later: upgraded HVACs and mandatory vaccinations.
thebouv(1)
Or, people on the spectrum have a temporary leg up. Make use of it guys!
People are generally incredibly bad at reading others' emotions anyway; if masks push us far enough towards actually realizing that fact, maybe it's on the whole a good thing.
If it doesn't matter, don't worry about it--and if it does matter, just ask! You don't need to be able to guess someone's emotions from their face for society to function.
If it doesn't matter, don't worry about it--and if it does matter, just ask! You don't need to be able to guess someone's emotions from their face for society to function.
I have some friends who have talked about feeling like they can't trust the people around them when everyone is wearing masks.
This has not been my experience – I suspect I've always relied on body language at least as much as facial cues, and that other people wearing masks doesn't deprive me of as much information as it does for many others.
This has not been my experience – I suspect I've always relied on body language at least as much as facial cues, and that other people wearing masks doesn't deprive me of as much information as it does for many others.
This may be common to other introverts: I tend to make my greetings, rather than verbally, with some kind of facial expression. Fortunately for me during the pandemic, I was pretty decent at the mime stuff and other physically emotive arts, so I have not been too impacted. I have noticed that I have been using my body and my (I am told "expressive") hands quite a bit to compensate.
I wonder how much of that will stick around out of habit when we are eventually done with masks.
I wonder how much of that will stick around out of habit when we are eventually done with masks.
Man it was back to school night for my youngest daughter last night. We visited with her new teacher for a few minutes. The teacher asked her, "Are you excited to be going back to school?"
I think my daughter was glad she was wearing a mask at that moment. Probably she'll have to wear that mask to school for most of the school year. I'd hate to be a teacher trying to figure out what my kids were actually thinking.
I think my daughter was glad she was wearing a mask at that moment. Probably she'll have to wear that mask to school for most of the school year. I'd hate to be a teacher trying to figure out what my kids were actually thinking.
Children are especially hurt by masks. Their psychological development depends on reading face emotions.
Proof?
I see absolutely no reason to believe that, and plenty of reason to think it's total bunk. E.g., blind children exist, and they are not psychologically damaged by not being able to read faces.
I see absolutely no reason to believe that, and plenty of reason to think it's total bunk. E.g., blind children exist, and they are not psychologically damaged by not being able to read faces.
That's the point of the research linked to in this post?
Not according to the article.
All that it claims is that it may impact their social skills. They hypothesize that masks may cause social development delays, and they measure that masks make it harder to judge emotions, but they do not actually tie that hypothesis to their research, and they have no justification that the hypothesized changes to social skills would actually be problematic--which is not at all given, since what counts as "good social skills" is heavily dependent on culture.
All that it claims is that it may impact their social skills. They hypothesize that masks may cause social development delays, and they measure that masks make it harder to judge emotions, but they do not actually tie that hypothesis to their research, and they have no justification that the hypothesized changes to social skills would actually be problematic--which is not at all given, since what counts as "good social skills" is heavily dependent on culture.
In fact, let's go ahead and just look at the actual Conclusion section:
So, that's what it actually says. It very clearly does not say that kids will be psychologically damaged by not being able to see the lower halves of other people's faces in public, and it does not make any attempt to account for social learning in the home.
To conclude, here, we showed that mask use influences our ability to infer facial expressions at any age.
Furthermore, we showed that the human capacity to read emotions from facial configurations when a face mask is present becomes particularly reduced in toddlers. We suggested that this is related to different age-related developmental stages of face processing associated with emotional reasoning.
Such observation poses the question whether a privation of facial visual features, as the one we are experiencing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, might alter or delay the development of social skills associated with face perception in early childhood.
Designing devices for personal protection that allows visibility of the lower part of the face may be crucial in all environments important for developing social and interaction skills in children, such as in education or rehabilitation, especially for those suffering from sensory or cognitive deficits.
Knowledge from the current study can inform emotion-centered interventions and prevention programs that aim to foster socio-emotional processes linked to emotional understanding (Izard et al., 2008).
So, that's what it actually says. It very clearly does not say that kids will be psychologically damaged by not being able to see the lower halves of other people's faces in public, and it does not make any attempt to account for social learning in the home.
>Proof?
I'm not a psychologist ask one.
>blind children exist, and they are not psychologically damaged by not being able to read faces.
They never saw one that's why, they were born blind but those who became blind later on suffer greatly.
I'm not a psychologist ask one.
>blind children exist, and they are not psychologically damaged by not being able to read faces.
They never saw one that's why, they were born blind but those who became blind later on suffer greatly.
gliese1337(1)
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Only funny thing about this is that masks can actually be useful for hiding emotions like for example laughing at your college professors or at your boss.
They should invent mask with flexible displays on the outside and sensors on the inside.
while I don't like wearing the mask in general, I do like that it helps me since I have a "resting asshole face." A major reason why I preferred working remote before the pandemic.
Good.
the number one concern I've had with regards to face masks, above and beyond all else, has been the cognitive development of children growing up in these times. I'm no behavioral psychologist or whatever but surely concealing the facial expressions of adults and other children isn't going to be very good for young children passively learning how to intuitively emote and show emotion in facial expressions! I realized this when I was working retail earlier this year and recognized that I could no longer smile at small children while masked. I'm afraid that a lot of decisions made in the past couple years are going to have unforeseen nth-order effects that won't become fully apparent until later on.
So social norms change. So what?
The way that neurotypical Americans currently use facial expressions for public social interaction isn't set in stone, inherent to humanity, or essential to normal development. It is a collection of accidental cultural practices, which are not shared throughout the world right now and will change in the future anyway. So, something might be speeding up the evolution of our cultural conventions right now--so what?
The kids will be fine.
The way that neurotypical Americans currently use facial expressions for public social interaction isn't set in stone, inherent to humanity, or essential to normal development. It is a collection of accidental cultural practices, which are not shared throughout the world right now and will change in the future anyway. So, something might be speeding up the evolution of our cultural conventions right now--so what?
The kids will be fine.
The OP didn't even say they were American, and the choice isn't between current facial expressive norms and different ones, it's limiting the ability of children to read the most expressive part of our faces entirely.
The OP didn't even say they were American
the choice isn't between current facial expressive norms and different ones, it's limiting the ability of children to read the most expressive part of our faces entirely.
Valid concerns, however -- we do not wear masks for no reason. There is another danger -- that we did not choose -- that the masks are aiding against. We have no good choice perhaps -- only one that is less bad -- the question to answer is which is which. Will the children take more harm from missing faces, or from sickness and deaths?
>Will the children take more harm from missing faces, or from sickness and deaths?
They will take more harm from missing faces because their psychological development depends on reading face emotions. Covid death rate among children is extremely low but they can spread it to their parents are grandparents tho.
After this pandemic is all gone and done why don't we all wear Guy Fawkes masks for the rest of the life if faces don't matter as you imply. Maybe that way we can preserve our privacy and fight CCTV surveillance.
They will take more harm from missing faces because their psychological development depends on reading face emotions. Covid death rate among children is extremely low but they can spread it to their parents are grandparents tho.
After this pandemic is all gone and done why don't we all wear Guy Fawkes masks for the rest of the life if faces don't matter as you imply. Maybe that way we can preserve our privacy and fight CCTV surveillance.
After this pandemic is all gone and done why don't we all wear Guy Fawkes masks for the rest of the life if faces don't matter as you imply. Maybe that way we can preserve our privacy and fight CCTV surveillance.
Yeah. Let's do it. I am 100% down for that. If I want you to recognize me, I'll wear a name tag, and if I want you to know how I'm feeling I'll tell you.
>If I want you to recognize me, I'll wear a name tag, and if I want you to know how I'm feeling I'll tell you.
I was alluding to opposite; let's be faceless and emotionless if face and emotion don't matter.
I was alluding to opposite; let's be faceless and emotionless if face and emotion don't matter.
Nobody said that faces and emotions don't matter. That's a strawman argument.
Do you just imagine parents at home with their developing children, wearing masks 24 hours a day?
Or that they only learn how to emote and facial expressions from their limited interactions outside their home?
Wear a mask. The kids will be fine.
Or that they only learn how to emote and facial expressions from their limited interactions outside their home?
Wear a mask. The kids will be fine.
no thanks! I live in South Dakota and haven't worn a mask since the school system I work in lifted the mask mandate at the start of July, and before that I only wore it in the lobby of my building. everything's going great here! the bottom floors of my building are a YMCA daycare and I get to smile at and greet many unmasked small children every day, it gives me a tiny bit of joy coming and going from work. I appreciate the unsolicited instruction though, and the kids will in fact be fine.
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Can't be any worse than what the Internet has already done to society. People in the younger generations, in developed countries, had stopped acting like human beings even before COVID hit.