Cicero once described the face as a picture of the mind and the eyes as its interpreter. In a world where many aspects of our everyday lives have been altered with limited human exposure and social distancing in place, the addition of face masks has significantly impacted our ability to create and maintain interpersonal interactions.
More than ever, we are tasked with the somewhat conflicting goals of optimizing youthfulness and attractiveness and optimizing social interactions. Face masks are forcing us to deduce and convey as much information as possible through our eyes and foreheads, and the migration to more virtual interaction through platforms like Zoom and FaceTime has led to hyper-awareness of our personal appearances.
The area around the eyes has been shown to be particularly important for effective interactions. A slightly different degree of smile can lead to perceptions of warmth, trustworthiness, and attractiveness. When a mask is put on, we are only able to convey or interpret a partial inventory of information. We are now limited to using the area around the eyes, commonly called crow’s feet, to help determine if a smile is genuine or not.
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