Lynn Bufka, a clinical psychologist and senior director for practice, research and policy at the American Psychological Association,
suspects that people are clinging to masks for the same reason they knock on wood or avoid walking under ladders. “Even if experts are saying it’s really not going to make a difference, a little [part of] people’s brains is thinking, well, it’s not going to hurt. Maybe it’ll cut my risk just a little bit, so it’s worth it to wear a mask,” she says. In that sense, wearing a mask is a “superstitious behavior”: if someone wore a mask when coronavirus or another viral illness was spreading and did not get sick, they may credit the mask for keeping them safe and keep wearing it.
Seeing people around you wearing masks when you’re not can also heightenanxiety about coronavirus and make it seem like the virus is nearby and spreading, even if it’s not, Bufka says. “It could make you feel like, wait, I’m missing something? Is there some information that others have that I don’t have, whether it’s prevalence in the local community or new information about masks being valuable?” Seeing celebrities post masked selfies on social media—as
Gwyneth Paltrow,
Bella Hadid and others recently did—also can reinforce the idea that this is a beneficial thing to do. A more influential celebrity post, perhaps, would glorify the simple, unsexy practice of handwashing.