Index – Abroad – Wearing a mask can make a big difference in the world

1. More tense social interactions

When we see a face, we do two things: assess whether we know it and try to read the emotions about it, Eilidh Noyes, a professor at the English university in cognitive psychology who was interviewed about the expected effects of wearing masks, told CNN. According to Noyes, from an evolutionary perspective

Ian H. Robertson, a Dublin psychology professor who also told CNN, said survival dictates that when one person meets someone, they must evaluate the other’s intentions, and if they encounter an obstacle, we can be more cautious. , more defensive, which leads to violent confrontations in some cases. lead.

In terms of recognizing emotions, it doesn’t matter what part of our face is hidden. Different areas of the face reveal each emotion to different degrees. Disgust, for example, is most often indicated by frowning and nose, while anger is expressed mainly around the mouth. However, in general, we use the entire face to assess emotional state, and a change in a single facial characteristic changes its interpretation, explained Alexander Toderov, a psychologist at National Geographicnaka at Princeton University. That is why difficulties can be expected if a mask interferes with this process.

Another expert, Amsterdam-based social psychologist Agneta Fischer, told the newspaper that it was a little easier with acquaintances and family than with strangers, because we can read the subtle vibrations on their faces. One of Fischer’s investigations, by the way, yielded the result, which was a cause of some concern about the use of masks, that when subjects could not see the face of a smiling person in its entirety, more negative emotions were attributed to it. Without the sight of an upturned mouth, the smiling eyes turned out to be few.

However, experts are not overly concerned with the expected negative consequences of wearing a mask. They hope that

The other way around is trying to get rid of sight dependency. Mary Inman, a professor of psychology at Michigan, gave an example of the problem to the AP: Frowning could mean she was angry because she was confused, but it could also be that she simply didn’t wear her glasses and bandages because of it. . So, think there is no other solution: if we are always in a mask, we will have to take the time and ask for clarification, which will slow down communication, but that may not be a problem.

Masked people chatting in Paris in April 2020.

Photo: Stephane Cardinale – Corbis / Getty Images Hungary

2. More prejudiced behavior

However, some find it really troubling that wearing a mask may reinforce xenophobia, prejudice, and racial discrimination. Among them is Berkeley sociologist Stacy Torres of California, who told National Geographic. People tend to try to judge, face to face, how trustworthy or how aggressive the other person is. Psychological researchers have shown countless times that judgments made on this basis are often wrong and reinforce biases themselves. Well now the masks can make the problem worse.

Across the United States, there have been reports of black men attacked for wearing masks, and many fear that police bias against blacks will have an even greater impact if mask use becomes common. Blacks in this new world must fear not only the virus, but also how many people will perceive them as a threat with their faces covered, the New York Times recently wrote.

I want to stay alive, but in the meantime I also want to stay alive.

– formulated the specific dilemma of the epidemic situation in Ohio Aaron Thomas in a Twitter message, which was later shared by more than 17,000. He’s with him in such a way that he just doesn’t feel safe as a black man if he wears just one piece of material, say a scarf or anything in front of his nose and mouth, which he clearly doesn’t wear as a protective mask.

3. Preferred Criminals

Very soon, they saw the possibility that some no longer suspected wearing a mask. Other times, it raises a few questions when someone wears a mask, perhaps even gloves in a store, but now no one can say an orphan word about it. The news of thieves and thieves taking advantage of the new customs also multiplied.

Criminals also win twice over the situation. For one thing, they don’t get noticed until the last minute, making it easier to get engaged. On the other hand, they can trust that, no matter how they are picked up by a security camera, no matter how many eyewitnesses, their identities remain secret. There have already been quite a few problems with the reliability of bona fide eyewitnesses, but even if we drop a mask as a burden, there is even less hope for identification. At the moment, we don’t know exactly how many masks will interfere with human or software facial recognition.

The proliferation of masks was also useful for the ISIS terrorist, wanted for particularly violent acts, who was hiding in the Spanish city of Almería and was able to venture into hiding in a surgical mask without any particular risk. According to a statement from the Spanish Interior Ministry reporting on the arrest of the man and his two companions, the Egyptian who had visited Syria had slipped into a rented apartment and was already wearing a protective mask when he entered Spanish territory.

Images of the capture of the man.

Furthermore, it is not only through deliberately calculated and criminal behavior that the widespread use of masks can worsen public safety. As a former FBI agent named Bryanna Fox, a criminologist, who also referred to the Ku Klux Clan, said the lack of face is associated with more deviant behavior. Research shows that if a person wears a mask, they also do things that they would not otherwise do, crossing certain limits.

4. People with hearing disabilities in difficult situations.

According to the WHO, 5 percent of the world population, about 466 million people, have hearing problems. They can lose much of their quality of life if they lose their mouth reading due to masks. Without this visual aid, communication, even if not impossible, will definitely become more stressful for them, requiring more attention and concentration from them, especially if even background noise disturbs them. According to an article in The Conversation, the result is that even if the person can follow what they are told, they have fewer mental resources to think and remember what they have heard.

Hearing impaired people are more exposed to isolation, depression and anxiety than average. There may be those who have just done so far, but with the added hardships caused by the proliferation of masks, it will simply no longer go to preserving your mental health.

That is why there are initiatives, not very promising, to remedy the problem. In Belgium, the stakeholder association has advocated for transparent masks. At a school in Brussels for pupils with special educational needs, the masks are made with a transparent layer sewn around the mouth. These are not easy to make, they require raw materials, and according to Reuters, it takes thirty minutes to make a single piece.

5. A fashion accessory and a message board made of forced accessories.

There is a great demand for creative and unique masks: some people want to have to wear a mask as a means of self-expression, to show how stylish the wearer is, what they think of the world or what their political views are. As CNN recently got together: A company called Maskclub, which has sprung up with incredible speed, has already hired a group of giants like Hasbro, NASA or Warner Brothers, for example, to spill Hello Kitty or Batman masks. Luxury brands have also entered the mask industry, though they are strictly function-focused, with iconic logos without them, but fashion fanatics around the world have invented and shredded their existing luxury pieces to make your masks remarkably expensive at home.

According to The Lyst Index, which currently ranks the most popular fashion staples, demand for fashion masks grew 496 percent in the first quarter of 2020, and the coolest men’s material of the period is the Off-White arrow mask. $ 95, which is already in short supply and is being wasted three times.

According to CNN, due to the attitude of Donald Trump and his circles in the United States anyway, if you wear a mask, you can interpret it as a political gesture in itself, but, of course, if you want to express yourself more directly, there is no lack of labeled masks politically. Hillary Clinton, for example, was photographed in a mask called Resistance by Design VOTE.

Photo: Hillary Clinton / Twitter

6. We don’t throw lipstick, but …

In times of economic crisis such as this, the so-called lipstick effect is generally mentioned, which is essentially the observation that in difficult times people turn to more affordable sources of pleasure and, while limiting their expenses, are rewarded with such cheap but still small luxuries. like a lipstick

Well now masks are undermining the boom in the lipstick business, although it would be premature to say that with the extension of the use of the mask, you have run out of lipstick because it is losing its meaning. As the China Daily reported in mid-March, Alibaba said some manufacturers had even increased lipstick sales. In this context, you may want to watch online videos:

In any case, the winners of wearing masks are eye makeup products – vloggers who share beauty tips throw out eye-catching makeup ideas that fit the mask. And various skin care products and moisturizers are also recommended, because after using them all day, the skin under the mask can become dry and irritated. In any case, as the Researcher put it: during the coronavirus epidemic, we can say that the lipstick effect gives way to the eyeliner effect.

Variations of a blogger about mask and makeup.

Photo: miroslavamoon / instagram

7. Do you smell your mouth and who cares?

One of the surprising consequences of wearing a mask at first glance is that people seem to have begun to fight harder against unpleasant breath. Rather than relaxing oral hygiene due to social distance and relying on the mask’s odor-blocking effect, it appears the exact opposite is happening. At the very least, the Wall Street Journal wrote, based on information from the giant Johnson and Johnson, that Listerine mouthwash has been working surprisingly well since closures due to the coronavirus. The exact reasons can only be guessed. Tips for the Wall Street Journal:

• It may be that people are now buying anything written to kill bacteria (even if the crown is a virus, isn’t it?).
• But it may be that the people in the masks suddenly realized that their breath was not as fresh as they thought.
• Or the home office is the goose: what a colleague may not dare to say (“sucks”) is communicated by a family member without issue if necessary.

Or perhaps you have read the suggestion from university researchers that it might be worth taking a closer look at whether mouthwash can damage the lipid envelope of the new coronavirus, thereby inactivating the virus.