Many of my friends support wearing masks in public places: The grocery store, at work, in public places. But, when it comes to wearing masks around friends who visit, some of them raise their eyebrows and say, “Really?”
Yes, really.
I somewhat understand their surprise. Wearing a mask at the grocery store is becoming more normal. There are social media posts about it and signs on the automatic door. But mask wearing behavior in one’s own home and around one’s extended family isn’t often talked about. After all, people aren’t posting pictures of masked family members on social media.
But herein lies the beauty of studying psychology. Psychology helps us understand how people think and behave. Psychology can help us predict how people perceive (and misperceive) potential threats. As an applied social cognitive researcher, I know how people judge risk. And, I know that people can be pretty bad at it. You see, certain situations can make people feel safer than they actually are. People often conflate friendliness and trust as risk reducers. But, in reality, they’re not. A trustworthy person can still contract or spread the COVID-19. And, in some instances, as the Washington Post recently reported, these family and friend gatherings are fueling COVID-19 spikes across the nation (Brulliard, 2020).
Take for instance this series of studies by Tybur et al. (2020). To briefly summarize, people thought about either someone who was close to them, an acquaintance, or an enemy. Then, they rated how much they wanted to avoid germs left by this person (e.g., avoid touching a tissue they used to blow their nose). People were more likely to say they would avoid germs when the person was an enemy than when they thought about someone close to them. In the last study, people were more likely to lower their germ aversion for strangers who seemed more sociable than unsociable. What do these studies imply? Simply put, people are less worried about germs when around their friends and family and social people than when around strangers or unpleasant people.
As the authors of these studies allude to, these findings may explain why family and friend gatherings can be contributors to the spread of COVID-19. Close social interaction is a risky behavior for catching and spreading COVID-19. People let their guard down when around friends and family. And thus COVID-19 spreads.
Yet psychology can provide us solutions to help bypass these common errors when judging risk. One is to make and follow consistent rules. Early on, our household formed such a rule. Masks are required for any visitors to our home that do not reside here. This includes everyone from the service repair person to my mother-in-law who visits regularly. This frees us from having to judge if a person's behaviors are safe or not. Importantly, it gets around that pesky problem that certain situations feel safer than they actually are.
Additionally, our family continues to limit our in-person, indoor social interaction as much as possible. When we want to get together with others, our first attempt is to figure out a virtual way. We have virtual game nights as opposed to in-person game nights. We have regularly scheduled FaceTime Sunday dinners with grandparents. In the end, we still are connected with those that we love.
In short, it is important to know that someone can be trustworthy, friendly, and familiar but still be an unintentional silent spreader. Let's join together in keeping the virus in check by masking up for everyone. Let’s continue to recognize the value of psychology in helping us solve real world problems.
References and further reading
Brulliard, K. (2020, November 12). At dinner parties and game nights, casual American life is fueling the coronavirus surge as daily cases exceed 150,000. Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/11/12/covid-social-gatherings/opens in new window
Tybur, J. M., Lieberman, D., Fan, L., Kupfer, T. R., and de Vries, R. E. (2020). Behavioral immune trade-offs: Interpersonal value relaxes social pathogen avoidance. Psychological Science, doi: 0956797620960011.
About the author
Karen Z. Naufel, PhD, is passionate about using psychology to make the world a better place. Since earning her PhD in experimental psychology from the University of Arkansas, she has endeavored to apply psychology to many areas, including education, meteorology, health, and other sciences. Naufel is currently a professor at Georgia Southern University where she teaches courses such as introductory psychology, health psychology, cognitive psychology, and graduate-level research design. She has had the privilege of participating in APA’s Summit on National Assessment of Psychology and the APA Introductory Psychology Initiative; she is currently serving as a co-chair of the APA Committee on Associate and Baccalaureate Education. Naufel is also an active member of Squash the Spread Bulloch County, an organization dedicated to reducing the spread of COVID-19 in her community.
