Face masks increase compliance with physical distancing recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic

Artikel

Governments across the world have implemented restrictive policies to slow the spread of COVID-19. Recommended face mask use has been a controversially discussed policy, among others, due to potential adverse effects on physical distancing. Using a randomized field experiment (N = 300), we show that individuals kept a significantly larger distance from someone wearing a face mask than from an unmasked person during the early days of the pandemic. According to an additional survey experiment (N = 456) conducted at the time, masked individuals were not perceived as being more infectious than unmasked ones, but they were believed to prefer more distancing. This result suggests that wearing a mask served as a social signal that led others to increase the distance they kept. Our findings provide evidence against the claim that mask use creates a false sense of security that would negatively affect physical distancing. Furthermore, our results suggest that behavior has informational content that may be affected by policies.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Journal: Journal of the Economic Science Association ; ISSN: 2199-6784 ; Volume: 7 ; Year: 2021 ; Issue: 2 ; Pages: 139-158 ; New York: Springer US

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Sozialwissenschaften, Soziologie, Anthropologie ; Field Experiments ; Health Behavior
• Subject: COVID-19 ; health policy ; face masks ; risk compensation ; social signaling ; field experiment

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Seres, Gyula ; Balleyer, Anna Helen ; Cerutti, Nicola ; Danilov, Anastasia ; Friedrichsen, Jana ; Liu, Yiming ; Süer, Müge
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Springer US
• (where): New York
• (when): 2021

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.1007/s40881-021-00108-6
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/247708
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET