Despite the medical benefits, the use of masks has some considerable disadvantages. Evidence suggests that wearing these induces perceived discomfort, impairs vocal communication, and may be a barrier to social interaction. Additionally, they prevent crucial face-to-face interactions between newborns and their primary attachment figures. They even affect the recognition of emotions and provide lower confidence and higher patterns of confusion.
However, masks have other surprising advantages. It makes us look more handsome and beautiful. Or so science says.
perception. Since the pandemic began, dozens of users have joked on social networks about the positive effect that this has in the beauty of people. “Is it me, or do I see people more beautiful when they wear the mask?”, is what many have asked themselves over the years. Science has studied this phenomenon. And indeed, we have not gone crazy: they improve people’s perception of attractiveness. Yes, it is true that it covers half of the face, so this “magic” could be related to the “beauty of occlusion”.
The study. Masks, originally a social taboo associated with the disease, increase attractiveness, according to a study by Cardiff University researchers and published in the journal Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications. The researchers were surprised to find that both men and women looked better with a mask that obscured the lower half of their faces. In what may be a blow to the environment, they also found that a face covered in a disposable-type surgical mask would likely be considered the most attractive.
The pandemic has changed our psychology in how we perceive mask wearers. When we see someone with her we no longer think “that person is sick, I need to get away”.
How? To carry out the study, 43 women were asked to rate on a scale of 1 to 10 the attractiveness of male faces without a mask, wearing a plain cloth mask, wearing a blue medical mask, and holding a plain black book that covered the area with a mask. would hide. The participants said that those who wore a cloth mask were significantly more attractive than those who did not have masks or whose faces were partially obscured by the book. But the surgical mask made the wearer look even better.
Why? Michael B. Lewis, one of the study’s authors, explained that the masks may have enhanced attractiveness because they drew attention to the eyes. And he pointed out that other studies had found that covering the left or right half of the face also made people look more attractive, in part because the brain fills in the missing spaces and exaggerates the overall impact, enhancing it.
This finding is plausible, as covering the lower half of the face is likely to obscure undesirable or desirable facial features; however, occlusion of facial features has been found to increase facial attractiveness regardless of which features are hidden.
Not associated with diseases. But he also stressed that “this may be because we are used to healthcare workers wearing blue masks and now associate them with people in the caring or medical professions. At a time when we feel vulnerable, we may be reassured by wearing medical masks and therefore feel more positive towards the wearer.”
Medical masks are commonly used for health reasons in collectivist countries like Japan, where people have improved personal hygiene practices. At Magnet we tell why. They are also common in China as protection against air pollution, despite concerns about their effectiveness.
Has changed. In 2016, notably before the pandemic, a study in the journal Japanese Psychological Research found that pretty Japanese women were seen as less attractive when wearing a face mask. However, in a similar study conducted in Japan and published in the journal i-Perception in 2021, women’s faces were rated as more attractive and healthier in the presence of masks, a marked difference from the 2016 study. The results show a dramatic change in their use and perception.
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