What is it about?
Understanding other people’s emotions is essential for effective social interaction. During the COVID-19 pandemic, face masks became a daily necessity, but they also covered large parts of the face that normally convey emotional cues. In this study, we examined how wearing a face mask affects people’s ability to recognize facial emotions. A total of 320 male and female students from Kuwait University viewed facial images showing six basic emotions (happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, and neutral expressions), either with or without a mask. The findings show that face masks significantly reduce accuracy in recognizing several emotions—particularly disgust, fear, sadness, and happiness. Emotions were generally identified more accurately when the face was fully visible. We also found that emotions expressed by male faces (especially anger and sadness) were more easily recognized than those expressed by female faces. However, there were no meaningful differences between male and female observers in emotion recognition ability. These results highlight the psychological and social costs of face masking, especially in educational, healthcare, and therapeutic settings, where emotional understanding plays a critical role.
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Why is it important?
This research matters because it shows that face masks do more than protect physical health—they also change how people interpret emotions, which can affect: Doctor–patient communication Teacher–student interaction Workplace relationships Social trust and emotional understanding By documenting these effects in an Arab cultural context, the study fills a major gap in the literature, which has been dominated by Western samples.
Perspectives
As a psychologist, I was struck by how a simple and necessary health practice—wearing a face mask—can subtly yet powerfully reshape emotional understanding. This study reflects my interest in the often-overlooked psychological consequences of everyday protective measures. While masks protect physical health, they also reduce access to critical emotional cues that support empathy, trust, and effective communication. Conducting this research within an Arab cultural context was particularly important to me, as it addresses a clear gap in the literature and challenges assumptions derived largely from Western samples. I hope these findings encourage educators, clinicians, and policymakers to consider emotional communication as an essential component of public health and institutional practice, not a secondary concern.
Prof. Othman H Alkhadher
Kuwait University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Effect of Face Mask on Perception of Emotions During Covid-19 Pandemic, An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities), February 2025, An-Najah National University,
DOI: 10.35552/0247.39.7.2398.
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