The Relation Between Wearing Masks and Dehumanization, Perceptions of Competence, Mood and Satisfaction of Interpersonal Interactions

In an attempt to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, mandatory health protocols and safety measures were introduced by governments all over the world. Countries were put into lockdown, people asked to wear masks, gloves and sanitize their hands as well as environments periodically. The purpose of this experimental research is to examine the dehumanizing effect of mandatory face-mask regime in terms of effects on mood, satisfaction of interpersonal interactions, and perceived competence. The sample of the study are Russian language speakers (N=21) who were randomly assigned to one of the two groups (one group interacting with a masked moderator and the other with an unmasked moderator). The interaction with the moderator guiding the participant through the anagram solving was conducted one-on-one. At the end of the task the participant was asked to fill a feedback survey, which included questions on immediate mood check, attribution of competence on a Likert scale and satisfaction with various aspects of the interaction. Due to the ongoing enforced protocols of the pandemic, the experiment was conducted online via video conferencing platform ZOOM. The results of Mann-Whitney test did not reach the usually accepted level of clinical significance (p-value > 0.05), though the calculated effect size was medium to large and established practical significance for the research outcome of the study. The dehumanizing tendencies of mandatory face-mask protocols will have to be studied and examined more thoroughly in the upcoming years, as the effects on psychosocial variables will become more apparent with time. Keywords: covid-19, pandemic, health, facemasks, dehumanization, mood, competence, satisfaction