In Japan, where people have long worn medical masks, not least to avoid passing the flu on to each other, women were thought to find masked men attractive. But an on-site study had revealed that, on the contrary, the sanitary mask was perceived as synonymous with illness and ill health.
Our Cardiff psychologists decided to conduct their study to see if, with the Covid-19 pandemic, the way people look at masks has changed. They asked 43 female students, aged 18 to 24, to look at photos of men’s faces without masks, faces with fabric masks, with medical masks, and faces whose bottoms were hidden by a book.
They then had to assess their attractiveness. Results ?
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