Wearing a face mask makes you look more attractive according to a new study.
Researchers at the School of Psychology at Cardiff University conducted the study back in February 2021 and got a group of women to rate the attractiveness of men either covering their faces with a surgical mask, a fabric one, a book or not at all.
The men were of varied looks (“low to high attractiveness”) and the results concluded that after rating the men from one to ten, women tended to find the men wearing the medical masks the most attractive followed by the cloth ones. Men not wearing any sort of face-covering ranked lowest.
Dr Michael Lewis, co-author of the study said: “The results run counter to the pre-pandemic research where it was thought masks made people think about disease and the person should be avoided.
“This relates to evolutionary psychology and why we select the partners we do. Disease and evidence of disease can play a big role in mate selection – previously any cues to disease would be a big turn off. Now we can observe a shift in our psychology such that face masks are no longer acting as a contamination cue.
“At a time when we feel vulnerable, we may find the wearing of medical masks reassuring and so feel more positive towards the wearer.”
The results from the study come as Boris Johnson announced yesterday that wearing face masks will no longer be mandatory in the coming weeks.
The move from Plan A to Plan B will mean that face masks on public transport and in certain public venues will no longer be mandated however London Mayor Sadiq Khan has said today that he plans to keep mask-wearing on the TFL network compulsory subject to qualified exemptions.
The move to Plan A starts this month.