Impact of Face Masks and Viewers’ Anxiety on Ratings of First Impressions from Faces

Abstract

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.

Face mask use as a categorical dimension in social perception

“…Even though the differential evaluation of the two types of targets varied in strength as a function of the specific dimension (i.e., being lower in the case of sociability), the effects were generally rather strong and unrelated to participants' political orientation. In sum, findings provide support to previous work attesting a bias in favor of mask wearers 14,[24][25][26][27][28] , although it should be acknowledged that the sample recruited in the present study is not necessarily representative of the whole population and therefore conclusions should be taken with caution.…”

“…Hence, an accurate interpersonal perception can be impoverished due to the presence of face masks.Social judgment after the emergence of Covid-19 pandemic appears to be also shaped by the presence vs. absence of face masks on the evaluation targets. Indeed, individuals wearing a face mask tend to be judged as more attractive, approachable, and trustworthy 14,[24][25][26][27][28] , although some studies failed to report similar effects 17,[29][30][31] . The positive evaluation of mask wearers found in previous research is likely to reflect the fact that mask wearing is seen as a normative behavior 32 .…”

“…Finally, because some previous evidence points to the presence of more positive evaluations towards targets wearing face masks as compared to targets who do not wear them 14,[24][25][26][27][28] whereas other studies reported diverging findings 17,[29][30][31] , in Study 1 we aimed at further exploring the effects of face masks on explicit evaluations. Given the inconsistency between previously published findings, however, we did not formulate specific hypotheses.…”

Impact of face masks and sunglasses on attractiveness, trustworthiness, and familiarity, and limited time effect: a Japanese sample

“…They argued that when a face mask partially covered a face, context cues used to predict attributes were invisible, establishing a sense of insecurity that impacts social judgments. Contrary to their research, however, several studies have reported that faces wearing face masks were perceived as more trustworthy than unoccluded faces [ 18 – 20 ]. Guo et al [ 18 ] argued that mask-wearers are likely to be viewed as those who are more considerate, law-binding, and rule followers, care for their own health, and are less harmful to others.…”

Incomplete faces are completed using a more average face

“…For instance, Hies and Lewis (2022) found that face masks increased ratings of attractiveness, and this was equally true for both unattractive and attractive faces. Further, when faces were considered without categorising into low and high groups, no overall differences were found when rating faces with versus without face masks (Bennetts et al, 2022;Guo et al, 2022).…”