Face mask is now a common feature in our social environment. Although face covering reduces our ability to recognize other's face identity and facial expressions, little is known about its impact on the formation of first impressions from faces. In two online experiments, we presented unfamiliar faces displaying neutral expressions with and without face masks, and participants rated the perceived approachableness, trustworthiness, attractiveness, and dominance from each face on a 9-point scale. Their anxiety levels were measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and Social Interaction Anxiety Scale. In comparison with mask-off condition, wearing face masks (mask-on) significantly increased the perceived approachableness and trustworthiness ratings, but showed little impact on increasing attractiveness or decreasing dominance ratings. Furthermore, both trait and state anxiety scores were negatively correlated with approachableness and trustworthiness ratings in both mask-off and mask-on conditions. Social anxiety scores, on the other hand, were negatively correlated with approachableness but not with trustworthiness ratings. It seems that the presence of a face mask can alter our first impressions of strangers. Although the ratings for approachableness, trustworthiness, attractiveness, and dominance were positively correlated, they appeared to be distinct constructs that were differentially influenced by face coverings and participants’ anxiety types and levels.

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There have been relatively few books that provide case material and analysis of the social movements that support nonviolent action. According to Herbert Blumberg (1998), who has reviewed the literature on peace psychology both during and after the Cold War, fewer than 10% deal with some aspect of social movements. By contrast, studies of attitudes, international relations, and conflict resolution provide about half of the current body of research.Stephen Zunes, Lester R. Kurtz, and Sarah Beth Asher have edited a major contribution to this area of research with their collection titled Nonviolent Social Movements: A Geographical Perspective. There are 14 chapters and a conclusion by Zunes and Kurtz. The 14 chapters comprise seven parts: Perspectives on Monviolent Movements, The Middle East, Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and North America. Five of the parts consist of two chapters; Part IV on Asia has three chapters, and Part VII on North America has one.The "perspective" of the collection is "geographical" only in the sense that the cases are drawn from different parts of the world. None of the authors is a geographer. Four of the authors have a political science background, three a sociological background, one is an economist, one an historian, and for three no academic specialty is given. No mention is made of the influence of the setting (the geography) on the development of the social movements.In their Introduction, the editors note that, although nonviolent action campaigns had been part of political life for millennia, only in the 20th century did nonviolence become a deliberate tool for social change as an institutionalized method of struggle. Their volume "is intended as a step toward a more systematic,

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