Lately, choosing to wear a mask, or choosing to not wear a mask seems to be the big controversy. And when you visit a downtown, or a shopping center, there is a wide discrepancy of people wearing, or not wearing masks.
NSPR's Matt Fidler wanted to go into the psychology of why some people choose to comply with the guidance of experts like the CDC and medical experts, and why some people just aren't very concerned, despite the known risks. So he called up local psychologist and author of “Show Your Anxiety's Who's Boss,” Dr. Joel Minden. Minden is the director of the Chico Center for Cognitive Behavior Therapy.
Here are highlights from their conversation. You can listen to the full interview at the top of the page.
Interview Highlights
On how people make decisions like whether to wear a mask in public
People evaluate the degree of risk, and so if they believe that it's very unlikely that they're going to get sick or that they'll spread the virus, then certainly the likelihood that they'll engage in behaviors consistent with the belief that it's unlikely that something bad will happen, increases. So I think that's a really important factor.
If someone doesn't really believe that they're in danger, that other people are in danger, or that perhaps the degree of risk has been overstated, then they're probably not going to work so hard to modify their behavior because maybe another consideration is this is kind of a hassle for me, I have to change my life dramatically to maintain distance, to stay at home, to wear this mask. And if it's unlikely that other people will be affected by by behavior, if I don't need to be this cautious, then I'm just not going to do it.
On short-term vs long-term considerations in decision-making
Often the decisions we make about personal behavior are highly influenced by the immediate consequence. So if you smoke cigarettes, you might say, well, this helps me manage stress or it helps me relax. And maybe the long-term degree of risk is not as apparent. Maybe we don't see the data in our own lives that would suggest that this is dangerous, this is something that I want to maybe consider carefully before deciding how to act.
… I think that's pretty typical for a lot of people to be very aware of the immediate consequences of their actions. And sometimes the long-term effects maybe don't stand out so much or maybe that the degree of risk seems minimal because perhaps of an inability to take in the data.
On the power of social influence
We have to consider the social context and the power of social influences to shape behavior. And so if we get consistent media messages or if law enforcement is responding to certain problem behaviors, then if we see that the people that we care about, the people we look up to, that we admire that they're sort of pushing this idea publicly, we're much more likely to comply with those guidelines that might be more important to consider or to adhere to long term.
On the other hand, privately, we may maintain certain beliefs that this is unnecessary for me, that this creates an inconvenience in my own life. And I'm only doing this because the social pressures are so great, and the potential consequences if I don't follow these expectations. And the consequences might be judgment from others or some sort of penalty. Those consequences might be enough for me to comply with those expectations or those guidelines publicly, but privately, I might maintain a certain belief that this is unnecessary and I really wish I could just do things the way I want to do them.
On consequences of a lack of legal enforcement
I guess if the legal consequences are so minor that there's really no incentive for people to modify their behavior other than the possibility that they may be judged harshly by others, then certainly that's going to strengthen the belief that it really isn't that important for me to follow these social distancing guidelines or other things that we're hearing about to remain safe or keep other people safe. The priority will be, what do I want to do? Or what do I think is best?
On decision-making during a crisis
People are being presented with a lot of unknowns. That makes it much more difficult to make effective decisions, when It's really hard to know, who do I trust? Or what do I prioritize? Or what's likely to happen? And what's the emotional aspect of all of this? So I think when there's a lot of confusion, when we're dealing with a crisis, when there's ambiguity, people are much more likely to rely on different data to draw a conclusion and to make a decision about how to act.
I think one way to think about decision making is some people tend to be really emotion driven in the choices that they make and so perhaps their thinking is so heavily influenced by, as you mentioned before the immediate consequences of their actions or inaction. And so some people might be really drawn to the fear that comes with getting sick or not having a job, or not being able to pay the bills, or being isolated from other people. And so the emotional element is really going to stand out to them, because they're not really sure what's factual? What do we really know? What's the best way to proceed logically? So the emotional element stands out so much, and they tend to be attracted to maybe ideas that will help them reduce the intensity of a difficult emotion or make them feel better. So sometimes the decision making is very emotion driven, it may not be entirely logical.
On the other hand, some people are very motivated to collect information that will help them make appropriate decisions that will benefit them not just in the short term, but that will have a lasting long-term impact that's desirable as well. And I think these are the folks who are presented with a crisis with ambiguity and they're much more likely to attend to information, to data, they're much more likely to consider the issue from a variety of perspectives. And maybe they're less driven by the emotional element that comes up in situations like this. So I really do see some interesting differences in personality in the way people approach situations like this. I think that's one explanation for why we see variability in the way people respond.
On how anxiety influences our decisions
With anxiety, we tend to get overwhelmed by certain beliefs that can be quite biased. They may not be entirely data driven. By data in this case, I mean, factual information. So with anxiety, we're dealing with the what ifs. And often the beliefs that we have when we're anxious, they're biased, they're excessively negative, they overestimate the degree of risk, they underestimate our ability to cope. And when we are aware of those beliefs, when we become invested in them, when we believe those ideas are real, that they're factual, then of course, we're going to experience that emotional consequence that feels so much like fear, and then we're going to scramble to do something so we don't have to feel that way or so that we can address the practical problem like in this case, modifying behavior to make sure that we keep safe or to bring in a steady income.
On the importance of establishing social norms
This is such an important issue because we've got the private beliefs that people have, and then we have the public behavior that we can observe directly. People may not agree with the idea that it's important to wear masks or maintain distance. But the scientists are telling us that this is something that we need to do or that we should do. And so the important thing here is not getting people to believe that this is an important behavior or pattern of behavior to display, but rather just to get them to change their behavior.
So I think if we're in a context in which people are not following these guidelines, then of course, I think it's natural for people to wonder whether maybe the risk isn't so great, maybe this isn't something I need to do. And if I don't wear a mask, or if I get close to other people, it looks like in this context, nobody's going to have an issue with it. So since that's easier for me, it's more comfortable, since it maybe fits with my view that maybe scientists are overstating the risk, then I'm not going to wear the mask, I am going to interact with people in public places and not be terribly concerned with this.
On the other hand, if we're in an environment in which there are signs posted or employees at a store or restaurant are wearing masks, and we're kind of getting those messages not just in terms of printed materials, but sort of behavioral or social messages — we see the behavior of other people — everyone's wearing the mask, everyone's maintaining distance, we're much less likely to go against these social norms that we observe, because certainly we don't want to deal with the social consequence of being criticized by other people, judged harshly in some way. So I think it really is important if we're trying to get people to change their behavior, it's really important to find a way to establish social norms in public context so that people are more likely to comply with these guidelines that are really going to keep us safe in the long term.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. Click the “play” button to listen to the entire interview.
