Reduced perceived trustworthiness during face mask wearing
To curb the diffusion of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), governments worldwide have introduced different policies, including lockdowns, social distancing, and mandatory mask wearing. Face mask wearing, especially, has an impact on the formation of first impressions, given that when meeting someo...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2021
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/153332 |
| _version_ | 1811686773784313856 |
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| author | Gabrieli, Giulio Esposito, Gianluca |
| author2 | School of Social Sciences |
| author_facet | School of Social Sciences Gabrieli, Giulio Esposito, Gianluca |
| author_sort | Gabrieli, Giulio |
| collection | NTU |
| description | To curb the diffusion of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), governments worldwide have introduced different policies, including lockdowns, social distancing, and mandatory mask wearing. Face mask wearing, especially, has an impact on the formation of first impressions, given that when meeting someone for the first time, individuals rely on the only available piece of information, the newly met person’s aesthetic appearance, in order to make initial estimations of other traits, such as competence, intelligence, or trustworthiness. However, face mask wearing affects the aesthetic appearance of an individual, creating uncertainty which, in turn, has been reported to reduce others’ perceived trustworthiness. In this paper, the influence of face mask wearing on strangers’ perceived trustworthiness and aesthetic appearance is assessed to verify the impact of this policy on impression formation. Participants (N = 71) have been instructed to assess the trustworthiness and the aesthetic appearance of a selection of 96 images depicting individuals of different ages (children, adults, and older adults), gender (men and women), and ethnicity (Asians or Caucasians). Participants were randomly divided into two groups: an experimental group and a control group. Participants in the experimental group (N = 38) rated faces of individuals wearing a face mask, while participants in the control group rated the same faces but in the absence of a face mask. Images were presented in random order. For each face, participants were asked to rate the aesthetic appearance and perceived trustworthiness of the stranger on two different 100-point Likert scales. Results demonstrate that (i) the correlation between perceived trustworthiness and aesthetic appearance is not affected by the presence of a face mask, and (ii) age, but not ethnicity and gender, influences the magnitude of differences in perceived trustworthiness levels during mask wearing. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T05:05:45Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/153332 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T05:05:45Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1533322023-03-05T15:32:36Z Reduced perceived trustworthiness during face mask wearing Gabrieli, Giulio Esposito, Gianluca School of Social Sciences Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) Division of Psychology Social and Affective Neuroscience Lab Social sciences Social sciences::Psychology Face Mask Halo Effect To curb the diffusion of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), governments worldwide have introduced different policies, including lockdowns, social distancing, and mandatory mask wearing. Face mask wearing, especially, has an impact on the formation of first impressions, given that when meeting someone for the first time, individuals rely on the only available piece of information, the newly met person’s aesthetic appearance, in order to make initial estimations of other traits, such as competence, intelligence, or trustworthiness. However, face mask wearing affects the aesthetic appearance of an individual, creating uncertainty which, in turn, has been reported to reduce others’ perceived trustworthiness. In this paper, the influence of face mask wearing on strangers’ perceived trustworthiness and aesthetic appearance is assessed to verify the impact of this policy on impression formation. Participants (N = 71) have been instructed to assess the trustworthiness and the aesthetic appearance of a selection of 96 images depicting individuals of different ages (children, adults, and older adults), gender (men and women), and ethnicity (Asians or Caucasians). Participants were randomly divided into two groups: an experimental group and a control group. Participants in the experimental group (N = 38) rated faces of individuals wearing a face mask, while participants in the control group rated the same faces but in the absence of a face mask. Images were presented in random order. For each face, participants were asked to rate the aesthetic appearance and perceived trustworthiness of the stranger on two different 100-point Likert scales. Results demonstrate that (i) the correlation between perceived trustworthiness and aesthetic appearance is not affected by the presence of a face mask, and (ii) age, but not ethnicity and gender, influences the magnitude of differences in perceived trustworthiness levels during mask wearing. Ministry of Education (MOE) Published version This research was supported from the Ministry of Education, Singapore, under its Academic Research Fund Tier 1 RT10/19. 2021-11-24T07:17:28Z 2021-11-24T07:17:28Z 2021 Journal Article Gabrieli, G. & Esposito, G. (2021). Reduced perceived trustworthiness during face mask wearing. European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, 11(4), 1474-1484. https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe11040105 2174-8144 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/153332 10.3390/ejihpe11040105 4 11 1474 1484 en RT10/19 European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education 10.21979/N9/KOAPLW © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | Social sciences Social sciences::Psychology Face Mask Halo Effect Gabrieli, Giulio Esposito, Gianluca Reduced perceived trustworthiness during face mask wearing |
| title | Reduced perceived trustworthiness during face mask wearing |
| title_full | Reduced perceived trustworthiness during face mask wearing |
| title_fullStr | Reduced perceived trustworthiness during face mask wearing |
| title_full_unstemmed | Reduced perceived trustworthiness during face mask wearing |
| title_short | Reduced perceived trustworthiness during face mask wearing |
| title_sort | reduced perceived trustworthiness during face mask wearing |
| topic | Social sciences Social sciences::Psychology Face Mask Halo Effect |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/153332 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT gabrieligiulio reducedperceivedtrustworthinessduringfacemaskwearing AT espositogianluca reducedperceivedtrustworthinessduringfacemaskwearing |