Interpreting Emotions From Women With Covered Faces: A Comparison Between a Middle Eastern and Western-European Sample.

ABSTRACT: While new regulations obligate or recommend people to wear medical masks at public places to prevent further spread of the Covid-19 virus, there are still open questions as to what face coverage does to social emotional communication. Previous research on the effects of wearing veils or face-covering niqabs showed that covering of the mouth led to the attribution of negative emotions and to the perception of less intense positive emotions. The current study compares a sample from the Netherlands with a sample from the United Arab Emirates on their perception of emotions from faces covered by a niqab, censoring black bars, or uncovered faces. The results show that covering the mouth area leads to greater anxiety in participants in both countries. Furthermore, although participants did not r

SUBMITTER: Kret ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8137903 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature