Research On The Effects Of Face Mask And Age On Interpersonal Distance During The Pandemic Environment

The SARS-Co V-2 pandemic sweeping the world has not disappeared.Maintaining proper social distance and wearing face masks are still important protection measures in the post-pandemic era.With the introduction into the law,face masks are integrated into people’s living habits and become one of the potential factors affecting interpersonal distance.And different types of face masks may have different effects.In addition,people of different ages show different distance performance.Therefore,this current study aimed to investigate the influence of face mask and age on interpersonal distance performance during the epidemic environment.Based on the experimental results,an intelligent safe distance management tool was designed to achieve accurate pandemic prevention and efficient self-inspection in risky times.In the first stage of the online experiment,the two effects of gender and the presence of face masks were explored.The experimental results demonstrated the effect of gender(p<0.05): people tend to expand their comfort boundaries when facing a male confederate.The effect of gender is related to gender stereotypes in human society.In addition,when facing a confederate without a face mask,people preferred to choose a significant larger distance(p<0.05).Consequently,face mask performed a significant regulating effect on interpersonal distance.From the perspective of social value,face mask and interpersonal distance are both the boundary between individuals and society.From the perspective of functional value,both are barriers to unknown risks to the outside world.Therefore,face mask can be regarded as a tangible carrier of interpersonal space and a figurative “safety bubble”.The second stage of the experiment was carried out in a virtual environment,aiming to explore the effect of approaching method,age and face mask type.Considering the approaching method effect,The IPD was significant closer in active than in passive task(p<0.05),which could be explained by the need for control during the interaction.As for age effect,different from previous studies,there were significant differences between each age group(all p<0.05).It could be seen that the pandemic strengthened the impact of age effect.In addition,no matter what kind of face mask could significantly reduce people’s comfort boundary compared with not wearing a face mask(all p<0.05).However,the protective effect of cloth mask is insufficient,and the N95 mask performs social disruption and physical discomfort.Therefore,it is recommended to wear surgical medical mask during post-pandemic era.Moreover,the current study proposes an interpersonal distance response model based on "Interpersonal Intimacy Arousal Model",which is used to evaluate the interaction trend between people.People evaluated the priority between defense demand and interaction demand to determine the direction of interaction.During the pandemic,defense demand was regarded as a high priority demand,which made larger distance to protect themselves.Based on previous experiments,the fact can be found that face mask will reduce the interaction distance between people.However,wearing face mask and maintaining safety distance are both necessary during the post-pandemic era.Therefore,the study proposes an intelligent safety distance management tool based on the requirement of safety social distance.The tool consists of a portable mask buckle and a "Worry-free distance" applet.This tool can solve the problem of too close distance during the queuing process through timely reminders.In the meanwhile,it can also establish a distance database to help expert obtain the information of epidemiological investigation more quickly and accurately.From the perspective of information delivery,it provides citizens an efficient way to check the information of closely connected and risk areas.To sum up,this intelligent tool can be regard as a scientific and accurate solution for the government’s pandemic prevention work.