The Effect of Wearing a Mask on Facial Attractiveness

Abstract

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated masking in public spaces. Masks cover the wearer’s face partially and thus may impact the perceived attractiveness of individuals and hence, interpersonal relations. Objective To determine if facial coverings affect attractiveness. Methods An online survey was conducted using 114 headshot images, two each- unmasked and masked- of 57 individuals. 207 participants rated them on an ordinal scale from 1 (least attractive) to 10 (most attractive). Parametric and non-parametric tests were performed, as appropriate, for comparison. Results For the first quartile, the average rating increased significantly when wearing a mask (5.89 ± 0.29 and 6.54 ± 0.67; p = 0.01). For control images ranked within the fourth quartile, the average rating decreased significantly when wearing a mask (7.60 ± 0.26 and 6.62 ± 0.55; p <0.001). In the female sub-group (n= 34), there was a small increase in average rating when masked, while in the male sub-group (n = 23), there was a small decrease in average rating when masked, but the change was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). For unmasked female images ranked within the first quartile, the average rating increased significantly when wearing a mask (5.77 ± 0.27 and 6.76 ± 0.36; p = 0.001). For the female sub-group with mean ratings within the fourth quartile, the average decreased significantly when wearing a medical mask (7.53 ± 0.30 and 6.77 ± 0.53; p < 0.05). For unmasked male images ranked within the first quartile, the average rating increased when wearing a medical mask but the change was not statistically significant (p > 0.05) whereas for the control male images within the fourth quartile, the average rating decreased significantly when masked (7.72 ± 0.18 and 6.50 ± 0.54; p < 0.05). Conclusions While wearing a facial covering significantly increased attractiveness for images less attractive at baseline, and decreased attractiveness for those that are more attractive at baseline; it did not cause a significant overall change in attractiveness in the study population.

Unveiling why race does not affect the mask effect on attractiveness: but gender and expression do

“…The researchers suggested there was an occlusion effect which caused these findings, as the mask tends to hide unattractive features which make the faces appear more attractive. It has also been suggested that masks decrease the attractiveness for more attractive faces while increasing the attractiveness of less attractive faces (Bassiri-Tehrani et al, 2022 ). This study also found an attractiveness effect for the most attractive and unattractive female faces where the effect was stronger than the male counterparts.…”

“…A typical explanation for why masks make faces look more average is through occluding important areas associated with the perception of attractiveness (Bassiri-Tehrani et al, 2022 ). The observer fills in the missing part of the face, and this is done using a typical schema that is likely to be more attractive than the actual person’s face—unless they are a very attractive person.…”

Commentary on: The Effect of Wearing a Mask on Facial Attractiveness

“…What a time to be alive—in the era of postpandemic worldwide focus, we can now utilize the “mask phenomenon” to decode age-old questions about beauty and perceived facial attractiveness. In this well-conceived and expertly delivered article, 1 the authors took the time to utilize stock photos of a mixture of representative male and female faces and then simulated a mask in the images in order to determine, through crowdsourcing, what the effects were on perceived aesthetic beauty.…”