The Impact of Anti-COVID Face Masks on Romantic Attraction: An Expectancy Violation Perspective

Drawing upon expectancy violation theory (EVT), we conducted an experiment to investigate the effects of anti-COVID masks on attraction in romantic first encounters. Participants (N = 160) evaluated potential partners on three attraction dimensions before and after mask removal; the attractiveness of the target and whether their face was initially covered with a mask were both manipulated. Dependent variables were romantic attraction, pleasantness of specific target’s features (e.g., gestures, voice), and participants’ general impression expressed as positive/negative trait attributions about the target's hypothetical personality, respectively. We conducted a pretest to select stimuli based on attractiveness ratings. Our hypotheses were guided by expectancy violation theory (EVT) and predicted that, when encountering a masked individual, mask removal may induce expectancy violation, and thereby significantly affect romantic attraction and impressions of that person. Positive violations were expected to increase attraction and improve impressions for attractive targets, while negative violations to decrease attraction and worsen impressions for unattractive targets. In the control group, where targets were unmasked from the beginning of the study, attraction and impressions were predicted to remain stable over time and reflect actual attractiveness. Findings supported our hypotheses, showing that first encounters with people wearing a mask from the beginning can induce abrupt expectancy violation when the mask is removed, which then manifests either in increased attraction when the would-be romantic partner is attractive, or in decreased attraction when this person is unattractive. A deeper understanding of expectancy violation dynamics holds critical implications for appreciating the complexities of interpersonal encounters.