Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Social Proof00:52

Social Proof

27.7K
Social proof is a form of persuasion based on comparison and conformity. People compare their behavior and actions to what others are doing and will change to conform to do what their peers do.
27.7K
Facial Feedback Hypothesis01:24

Facial Feedback Hypothesis

161
Charles Darwin proposed that facial expressions are an evolutionary adaptation for communication. He argued that these expressions are not influenced by culture but are universal across species. For example, a snarling expression with exposed teeth signals a threat in many animals, including humans. Darwin also suggested that displaying an emotion can intensify the feeling. Smiling, for example, could enhance one's sense of happiness. This idea laid the foundation for understanding the role...
161
Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification03:00

Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification

5.2K
Social psychologists have documented that feeling good about ourselves and maintaining positive self-esteem is a powerful motivator of human behavior (Tavris & Aronson, 2008). In the United States, members of the predominant culture typically think very highly of themselves and view themselves as good people who are above average on many desirable traits (Ehrlinger, Gilovich, & Ross, 2005). Often, our behavior, attitudes, and beliefs are affected when we experience a threat to our...
5.2K
Deindividuation00:57

Deindividuation

26.4K
Deindividuation is a form of social influence on an individual’s behavior such that the individual engages in unusual or non-normal behavior while in a group setting. Why? Because in these group settings, the individual no longer sees themselves as an individual anymore, disinhibiting their behavior and personal restraint.
26.4K
Bystander Effect02:09

Bystander Effect

9.6K
The discussion of bullying highlights the problem of witnesses not intervening to help a victim. This is a common occurrence, as the following well-publicized event demonstrates. In 1964, in Queens, New York, a 19-year-old woman named Kitty Genovese was attacked by a person with a knife near the back entrance to her apartment building and again in the hallway inside her apartment building. When the attack occurred, she screamed for help numerous times and eventually died from her stab wounds.
9.6K
Persuasion Strategies01:52

Persuasion Strategies

38.6K
Researchers have tested many persuasion strategies, including the foot-in-the door and the door-in-the-face techniques, in a variety of contexts. Ultimately, the principles are effective in selling products and changing people’s attitude, ideas, and behaviors (Cialdini & Goldstein, 2004).
38.6K

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Environmental decision neuroscience connects the brain to climate action.

Nature reviews. Neuroscience·2026
Same author

Slow-wave sleep in the TPJ is linked to individual differences in implicit bias.

Scientific reports·2025
Same author

Intracortical functional connectivity during deep sleep reveals prosocial preferences.

Neural networks : the official journal of the International Neural Network Society·2025
Same author

Voice of a woman: influence of interaction partner characteristics on cycle dependent vocal changes in women.

Frontiers in psychology·2024
Same author

Cathodal HD-tDCS above the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex increases environmentally sustainable decision-making.

Frontiers in human neuroscience·2024
Same author

Interindividual differences in mindfulness are linked to sleep-electroencephalographic characteristics.

Sleep·2024

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 8, 2025

Creating Virtual-hand and Virtual-face Illusions to Investigate Self-representation
06:53

Creating Virtual-hand and Virtual-face Illusions to Investigate Self-representation

Published on: March 1, 2017

13.3K

Face coverings increase apparent honesty and cooperativeness.

Janek S Lobmaier1, Daria Knoch2

  • 1Department of Social Neuroscience and Social Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. janek.lobmaier@unibe.ch.

Scientific Reports
|December 15, 2023
PubMed
Summary

Face masks significantly impact social perception. People wearing masks are perceived as more cooperative and honest, but these perceptions don't reflect true prosocial traits.

More Related Videos

Holistic Facial Composite Creation and Subsequent Video Line-up Eyewitness Identification Paradigm
09:49

Holistic Facial Composite Creation and Subsequent Video Line-up Eyewitness Identification Paradigm

Published on: December 24, 2015

14.2K
An Experimental Analysis of Children's Ability to Provide a False Report about a Crime
07:36

An Experimental Analysis of Children's Ability to Provide a False Report about a Crime

Published on: May 3, 2016

8.6K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 8, 2025

Creating Virtual-hand and Virtual-face Illusions to Investigate Self-representation
06:53

Creating Virtual-hand and Virtual-face Illusions to Investigate Self-representation

Published on: March 1, 2017

13.3K
Holistic Facial Composite Creation and Subsequent Video Line-up Eyewitness Identification Paradigm
09:49

Holistic Facial Composite Creation and Subsequent Video Line-up Eyewitness Identification Paradigm

Published on: December 24, 2015

14.2K
An Experimental Analysis of Children's Ability to Provide a False Report about a Crime
07:36

An Experimental Analysis of Children's Ability to Provide a False Report about a Crime

Published on: May 3, 2016

8.6K

Area of Science:

  • Social Psychology
  • Nonverbal Communication
  • Facial Perception

Background:

  • Facial cues are crucial for inferring personality traits.
  • The COVID-19 pandemic normalized widespread face mask usage, obscuring significant facial information.
  • Understanding how masks affect social perception is vital in post-pandemic interactions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the influence of hygienic face masks on the perception of prosocial traits.
  • To determine if mask-induced perceptions of cooperativeness and honesty align with individuals' actual prosocial tendencies.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized portraits of individuals with known "true" prosocial tendencies.
  • Presented masked and unmasked facial stimuli to 60 naive participants.
  • Participants rated faces on perceived cooperativeness and honesty.

Main Results:

  • Faces wearing masks were rated as significantly more cooperative and honest.
  • These enhanced prosocial ratings were independent of the individuals' actual prosocial behaviors.
  • Masks altered perceived traits, creating a disconnect from reality.

Conclusions:

  • Face masks can distort social inferences about cooperativeness and honesty.
  • Perceptions of prosocial traits are influenced by masked facial cues, not true characteristics.
  • Findings have implications for communication in healthcare, employment, and social settings.