Mask Wearing—When and How to Speak Up
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In the video above, Dickinson College Professor of Psychology Marie Helweg-Larsen discusses how to handle the challenge of encouraging others to wear proper face coverings in public to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Having conducted extensive research in the areas of social psychology, health psychology and cross-cultural psychology, Helweg-Larsen advises that mask-wearers attempt to engage anti-maskers rather than confront them.
“If you know the person, you might say, ‘Do you need to borrow a mask?’ ” she explains. “Or you might say, ‘I’m curious about why you’re not wearing a mask.’ So use language that starts a conversation rather than shaming the person.”
At Dickinson, students, faculty and staff members who still need to be on campus during the remote fall semester are required to wear the proper face coverings that have been recommended by the CDC. Answers to the most frequently asked questions about the fall 2020 semester, including information about face- coverings, are available online.
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Published August 21, 2020