Unattractive people are more likely to continue wearing Covid face masks, study suggests 

Attractive people are less likely to continue wearing face masks in the post-Covid era, a study suggests.

The researchers conducted three questionnaires asking people about self-perceived attractiveness and intentions to wear masks in various settings.

They concluded that people who see themselves as attractive “believe that wearing a mask hinders their chances of making a favorable impression on others.”

On the other hand, people who do not see themselves as attractive buy into the ‘mask attractiveness belief’: that face coverings actually enhance their appearance.

It comes after a major analysis found face masks made “little or no difference” to Covid infection or death rates.

Initially used as antiviral protection, the face mask has become one of the symbols of a fierce culture war in the US.

There has never been much evidence to show that masks are effective in preventing large-scale infections, but that hasn’t stopped officials from requiring them across the country.

Schools in Democratic states made masks an entrance requirement for students this month, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) still recommends that Americans wear them in places with high levels of transmission like public transport.

Despite President Joe Biden declaring the Covid pandemic “over” late last year, as many as four in 10 Americans still wear masks ‘occasionally’.

Researchers at Seoul National University in South Korea wanted to see if self-perceived attractiveness played a role in people’s mask-wearing intentions. They conducted three experiments with Americans recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk, a crowdsourcing website for businesses.

The average age across all studies was 33 years, and men made up approximately 44 percent of each study population.

The team’s most notable finding came from their third study.

Study three involved 442 people, half of whom were told they were going for a dog walk and the other half were told they were going for a job interview.

They were asked: ‘In this scenario, do you think others will perceive you as more attractive with a face mask?’

They were also asked: ‘How much do you want to make a good first impression on others?’

People who had a job interview cared more if wearing a mask affected their facial attractiveness.

For the initial study, the researchers involved 244 people.

The participants rated their facial attractiveness before being asked to imagine a scenario where they are invited to a job interview at a company they really like.

They were asked to answer the following questions: ‘Do you think interviewers will perceive you as more attractive with a face mask?’ and ‘If wearing a face mask is optional in this interview session, would you wear a face mask during the company interview?’

People who rated themselves as very attractive were less likely to answer yes. They were also less likely to endorse the belief that wearing masks improves their appearance, further diminishing their intention to wear masks in job interviews.

In an interim study, 344 people who imagined interviewing for a job at a well-respected company were asked: ‘Do you think interviewers will perceive you as more [trustworthy/competent/attractive] with a mask?

People who answered yes to those questions were more likely to wear masks in the interview.

The study authors wrote: “Overall, we provide a novel finding that self-perceived attractiveness has significant effects on mask-wearing intention via belief in mask attractiveness in the post-COVID-19 pandemic.”

“Our findings suggest that mask-wearing may shift from being a self-protection measure during the COVID-19 pandemic to a self-presentation tactic in the post-pandemic era.”

the report was published in Frontiers in Psychology.