Viral Stories

"Trending News & Stories"

People who think they’re attractive are less likely to wear masks, a study shows

30 Views

Pedestrians cross Houston Street as students wearing masks leave the New Explorations into Science, Technology and Math (NEST+m) school in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021, in New York.

Brittainy Newman/AP

People are less likely to wear masks to prevent COVID-19 if they see themselves as good-looking, according to a study published earlier this year.

Researchers asked 1,030 participants to self-evaluate how attractive they deemed themselves, how likely they were to wear a mask and if certain situations, such as a job interview or walking the dog, impacted their willingness to wear one.

The more attractive a person perceives themselves, the less likely they were to wear a mask because they thought the mask made them less attractive. Inversely, the less attractive someone found themselves, the more likely they were to wear a mask, according to the study in the Frontiers of Psychology journal published in late January.