What Did You Say?

Effective Ways to Communicate in the Masked Age

Cate Dowman, University of Miami 

Latoya Danford Stewart, Florida International University

Housekeeping

We invite you to:

  • unmute anytime to discuss or ask a question
  • make full use of chat
  • share stories in Jamboard
  • participate as much as you wish

 

clothes peg on a clothes line

Poll - in chat

How confident are you in reading the speaker's emotion and expression?

1:   I struggle

 

2:  Sometimes I miss the point

 

3:  I'm a rockstar

Masked Communication Side Effects

Decrease in level of confidence by the listener

 

Confusion reading angry vs. neutral expressions

 

 

 

 

 

1

Micro Expressions

Misperception of tone

 

Speaking louder not clearer

 

Miscommunication for non-native speakers

2

Tone of Voice

More and forced eye contact

 

Missed social cues

 

Placing more trust and likeability in masked faces

 

 

3

Nuances

Topic Wheel

How it works

  • spin - wheel
  • choose topic
  • discuss - facts, research
  • share strategies
  • play - game

 

 

Topic Wheel

  • Defined as: a short, involuntary facial expression which can reveal emotions
  • How many micro expressions are there?
  • Six! List them (in chat)
  • What about neutral?
  • Research: increased lack of confidence in reading facial cues esp. neutral face

Micro Expressions

  • Fear: focus on the eyes & eyebrows. Look for a widening of the lids so the whites of the eyes show and the eyebrows are raised in a flat line
  • Surprise: A long expression, face mask may pull, high eyebrows in an upside down U
  • Sadness: pinched eyebrows, drooping eyelids
  • Happiness: activated upper cheeks and crows feet right below the eyes (real vs. fake)
  • Anger: 2 parallel lines between the eyebrows
  • Disgust: nose crinkles at the top of the nose

Strategies

science of people.com

Name that Expression !

Mrs. Winter Unmasked

Original material from top row stems from MPI FACES database (Ebner et al., 2010), bottom row: Carbon C-C (2020) Wearing Face Masks Strongly Confuses Counterparts in Reading Emotions. Front. Psychol. 11:566886. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.566886

anger

disgust

fear

happy

neutral

sad

  • Defined as: the way a person is speaking to someone
  • Problems associated with masks:
  • Muffled tones, high pitch sound waves blocked, unable to lean in, speak loudly not clearly
  • Research: voiceless consonants are lost (p, t, k,f, s, sh), louder volume = voice fatigue

Tone of Voice

  • Hyper-articulate esp. consonants
  • Slow down speech and add pauses
  • Speak up but don't shout  = strained voice and misperception
  • Engage active listening

Strategies

Meet Mandi

Tone 1

Tone 2

Tone 3

Sarcasm

Dismissive

Genuine

  • Defined as: a very slight difference in appearance, meaning, sound, etc.
  • Problems associated with masks:
  • Cultural differences in emotions: misread tone -sarcasm, increased likeability & trustworthiness in masked faces for no reason, prolonged eye contact
  • Research: reduces emotion-recognition accuracy & perceived closeness

Nuances

  • Adjust tone not volume

Strategies

  • Do an eye contact check during the conversation
  • Take note of potential cultural & religious nuances: Asian vs. Western, muslim vs. christian
  • Go big on body langauge: hands, eyes, eyebrows and spine (posture)

Jamboard

  • share successful communication strategies of your own; or
  • a time when you failed to communicate effectively and what you learned; or
  • micro expression story - positive or negative


Stories

Inclusivity

Defined as: “the practice or policy of including people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalised, such as those who have physical or mental disabilities and members of minority groups”.

Problems associated with masks: understanding accents, cannot read lips, eyes and emotional recognition rely on cultural context

Strategy: know that everyone has an accent even you, speak slower

  • https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2021/03/30/study-reveals-how-face-masks-hinder-communication.html
  • Carbon C-C (2020) Wearing Face Masks Strongly Confuses Counterparts in Reading Emotions. Front. Psychol. 11:566886. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.566886
  • Grundmann F, Epstude K, Scheibe S (2021) Face masks reduce emotion-recognition accuracy and perceived closeness. PLoS ONE 16(4): e0249792. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249792
  • Science of people.com

References

Thank You!

Questions?

Contact

Cate Dowman: catedowman@miami.edu

LaToya Danford Stewart:  ldanford@fiu.edu

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