By Don White.

An important principle that underlies community is now being played out in Nanaimo – and, I suspect, in most other towns across the country. It involves the wearing of face masks for COVID-19, but for a reason that is frequently omitted: as prosocial signalling by the wearer that her/his intention is to keep you and others healthy. Yet this factor may well prove crucial for how communities go through and come out of the pandemic.

Much talk of face masks concerns aspects such as the degree of protection they offer against the novel coronavirus; or that face masks are more effective for preventing you from infecting someone else than for keeping you from catching it. Or they focus on the utter hassle of wearing a mask; and sometimes, in some places, the absolutely entrenched ideological resistance some people have to participating. Perhaps ironically, however, it’s precisely the act of mask-wearing despite these negative aspects that make the positive messages we send about it trustworthy.

Humans base a lot of social interactions on unspoken “signals” we get from other people: whether they are friendly (e.g. smiling), allies worth having (e.g. have status, wealth, or power), and so on. Those who study social signalling point out that not all signalling is “honest.” Dishonest signals largely benefit only the signaller, and often come at a cost to the receiver. So as protection against our exploitation, we watch to see if the signal “costs” the signaller who makes them without any guarantee of benefit. If it does, we lean towards thinking the signaller is trustworthy and consider paying back in friendship, allegiances, or direct reciprocation.

How does this apply to face masks? Putting something over your nose and mouth is unpleasant, inconvenient, and, quite frankly, a pain in the butt. It also makes easy breathing difficult. It obscures your facial expressions (how we commonly signal our feelings), and it makes it challenging for others to understand our speech. Furthermore, as protection from COVID-19, a face mask benefits others from us more than it does ourselves. So why do it?

We may do it because, in addition to the virus protection it does provide, it signals that we “honestly” intend no harm to the other person. By enduring the hassle and unpleasantness of mask-wearing, we send a message that we respect the well-being of others. And that message is trusted precisely because of the costs we pay. Payback comes when others reciprocate by also putting on a mask and we get back the same protection from the virus that we give them.

Communities thrive on the principle of reciprocity. I do you a favour and/or incur a cost, and you followup by returning the favour in some fashion. By reciprocating, both parties come out better. It’s why communities are stronger than individuals and why we are a social species.

The same applies to business. When you enter a store or office where staff are wearing masks, you can take it as a signal that the business, too, is concerned about your safety. They’re not just interested in getting your money at the least effort and expense to them or by doing only the minimum demanded by public health departments. And we reciprocate by giving the best of such companies our business. We shop where we feel safest. The benefits are mutual.

So don’t think of mask-wearing only as a sacrifice of your personal convenience and comfort. Nor as a restriction on your personal freedom or as showing you’re afraid of being vulnerable.

Instead, think of it in terms of signalling your concern for other people. Think of in terms of the reciprocal benefits you get by making your signal honest and yourself trustworthy. Acknowledge that principle applies to individuals and businesses, alike. It’s not only how we’ll best navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s how communities are built and thrive.