The masks make us more attractive, discover why

Science confirms it, masks make us more attractive. After almost two years since the deployment of the Covid-19 Pandemia, the use of masks is becoming optional in most places in the world. However, after reading this article you may want to continue using it, but not precisely for health reasons.

Psychologists and sociologists have addressed studies about the use of masks and their effects and, some results were surprising and out of expected. You will see, it has been shown that the use of facial masks manages to make people perceive us as "more attractive".

In this article we will address the issue, explaining why the use of masks makes us more attractive in the eyes of others. If you want to find out why this phenomenon occurs, then keep reading!

Content

• The effect of the sanitary mask
• The masks and the attractiveness after Covid-19
• The masks increase our appeal
  • Bibliographic resources

The effect of the sanitary mask

The effect of the sanitary mask was studied by Miyazaki and Kawahara in 2016 due to an observable phenomenon in Japan for several years now. In fact, in the Asian country, it is common that Some women decide to use a sanitary mask to cover their faces when they go out without using makeup.

The researchers, given that evidence, addressed a study to evaluate the effects of carrying a mask on the perception of beauty or attractive. In it, they took a sample of Japanese subjects and manipulated the presence and absence of masks about their perception of how attractive the others were. It consisted of presenting in front of these subjects to a person with a mask, another without a mask and others with their faces hidden after objects, for example, a notebook. Then, those who decided to participate in the study that they scored how attractive seemed the faces they were visualizing were asked to participate in the study.

The results showed that Attractive faces were perceived less attractively hidden behind a mask, The opposite of the beliefs of Japanese women. This is because the mask gave the aspect that someone was sick, without producing the effect that these women sought to obtain.

The masks and the attractiveness after Covid-19

We have seen that, in the study addressed by Miyazaki and Kawahara in 2016, there was no evidence that masks increased the perception of someone's attractiveness, but on the contrary. However, there is current evidence against the results of this study. We will address them and examine here.

The pandemia we are going through since the year 2020, It has taken us to all sectors of the world to resort to the use of masks for reasons for safety and contagios prevention. So, the subjective perception of the use of masks changed: Before this measure, seeing someone using a probably lead us to think that it was a measure to avoid infection for their part of some disease or condition that affected it. Today, the mask is seen as a sign of responsibility and protection of shelter.

Faced with this turn in the consideration of the use of sanitary masks, studies were addressed to assess how their use affects our aspect. Patel et al. (2020) investigated the effects of the use of medical masks and how they affect the perception of someone else's beauty in this context after the beginning of the pandemic, where the perception about the use of masks was affected.

Contrary to the previous study conducted in 2016, These researchers hypothesized that facial masks would increase the attractiveness precisely due to the occlusion of much of the face. Thus, after obtaining the results, they were able to verify that they were right: faces that without a mask were not considered attractive, with its use, this perception changed significantly. This effect could be evidenced both in men and women, so it was not an incident factor to belong to one or the other gender.

Like Patel et al. They did not include in their studies the use of a control group that covered their face with another object that was not a sanitary mask, their results cannot be compared with those obtained in 2016 by Miyazaki and Kawahara. Anyway, they were conclusive: Today, someone with a mask is perceived as more attractive that someone who does not carry it.

The masks increase our appeal

The results that have been evidenced regarding the use of masks in the current context concluded that they make us more attractive, improving our appearance in the eyes of others. This phenomenon could be due not only for masks covering much of our face, "disguising" our appearance; but also that today the reason why someone uses a mask is different from the one who could be attributed in 2016.

These days, who has a sanitary mask, does it for a matter of care and respect for others, not as in those times when this could be associated with the carrying of a disease. Surely, this has significantly influenced our perception of masks and therefore give us the impression that someone is more attractive.

And what do you think, do people think you are more attractive with or without a mask?

The attractiveness from the point of view of psychology and biology

Bibliographic resources

• HIES, OLIVER, AND MICHAEL B. Lewis. "Beyond the Beauty of the West: Medical Masks Increase Facial Attractivoess More than OTher Face Coverings."Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications 7.1 (2022): 1-6.
• Miyazaki, and., & Kawahara, J. Yo. (2016). The Sanitary-Mask Effect on Perceced Facial Attractiveness. Japanese Psychological Research, 58 (3), 261-272.
• Patel, Viran, et al. "Beauty and The Mask."Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Global Open 8.8 (2020).