I was initially puzzled by how many people resist wearing masks, and how strident some are about it. But after some reflection, I feel I have a better handle on it.
A "COMMONS" PROBLEM
Wearing masks helps others more than the wearer. Not everyone has to wear a mask, but to make a real difference, you ideally want a large number of people to do it. You have to find and buy a mask, and it's less comfortable than going without. So while it's small, some sacrifice must be made.
This slots neatly in to the "tragedy of the commons" set of problems. The problem would go away if everybody adopted the proper behavior, but given that there is some sacrifice to be made, and many people have to make it, nobody wants to be first. They all want to see everybody else making the sacrifice before they do. We naturally resist behavior change (a pet topic of mine, but I will stop there for now), and only readily make changes for personal benefits. Mask-wearing has a standard bit of resistance that we must overcome.
SOCIAL CONCERNS
There's more. Being social creatures, we are always concerned with our status within our group (and which group we consider "ours" can vary), so the problem and desired behavior cannot be considered in isolation.
People are most likely to adopt the desired behavior to solve a "commons" problem when the sacrifice is small, inexpensive, and the behavior (or purchase) is visible and so they can receive social credit for making the sacrifice. The good news is that this is a great match for the mask-wearing solution. The bad news is that there are other social concerns to consider. These unconscious motivations have an outsized effect on behavior, because (contrary to common assumption) decisions are made in our emotional circuits.
For example, as noted before, social creatures largely default to "fitting in". Everybody largely wants to do what everybody else is largely doing. (Which is why this is not an issue in many Asian countries, where mask-wearing is already common). They are OK hearing about benefits of a behavior or a product from a soft-spoken advocate that seems like them. But if there is somebody different - an activist, an agitator, an extremist - they will avoid the product/behavior to avoid being considered one of those people. This concern is so large that they will readily absorb personal costs to avoid being seen in that category. (One relevant study: (
Error - Cookies Turned Off) They will decide not to buy a product that is cheaper or has other personal advantages, or they will pointedly take on what they see as a lesser social stigma (like, being unwilling to wear a mask to help the health of others). (One relevant study:
Energy-efficiency attitudes and choices)
A POSSIBLE SOLUTION
While there is obviously individual variation, when trying to affect a mass change in behavior, logic has essentially no effect. (Logic can accelerate behavior change, but is only notably effective after the emotional circuits are already leaning in that direction). Surprisingly, neither does belonging to a social group that "believes" in the solution. Hearing scientists and healthcare experts recommend the solution has an effect...but a very small one. Believing yourself that the behavior is necessary helps more...but surprisingly, that is not the strongest correlation to behavior change. The strongest correlation with behavior change is whether you believe that everybody else will be making the change. (One relevant study:
https://psyarxiv.com/kah7s)
This implies that our best path forward is to convince everyone that, soon, everyone will be wearing masks. It's sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy, because people want to fit in with what others are doing. One good aspect is that people would rather be trendsetters than laggards, so if they believe the change is coming, they will adopt the new behavior now rather than waiting for the rest of the herd to change. Thank goodness for that, so we avoid a chicken-and-egg situation.
MANDATORY OR NOT? UGH, MORE STUFF TO WORRY ABOUT
The next obvious question is how do you convince people that mask-wearing will become widespread? Making it mandatory is one obvious way, but of course comes with other downsides in terms of resistance to behavior change. I haven't put much thought in to that yet so I will leave the question open.
AN OFF-TOPIC LINK BACK TO TESLA AND EVs...OR IS THIS THE ONLY ON-TOPIC BIT?
This discussion completely applies to EV adoption behavior as well.
