The Psychological Effect of Face Masks: Fear, Compliance & Social Control
The Psychological Effect of Face Masks: Fear, Compliance & Social Control
Face masks are perpetuators of fear, because they scream that one of us, or maybe both of us, are biohazards. They also easily allow people to be identified, so people can tell who’s following the rules and who isnât, so masks harness peer pressure and scapegoating. Also, because of the ego nudge about equating following the rules with being a good, virtuous person, and the flip side of that is youâre a bad person if you donât follow the rules. Masks make it so easy to distinguish the âgood guysâ from the âbad guysâ. So masks are a really potent compliance device.
Face masks are perpetuators of fear, because they scream that one of us, or maybe both of us, are biohazards. They also easily allow people to be identified, so people can tell who’s following the rules and who isnât, so masks harness peer pressure and scapegoating. Also, because of the ego nudge about equating following the rules with being a good, virtuous person, and the flip side of that is youâre a bad person if you donât follow the rules. Masks make it so easy to distinguish the âgood guysâ from the âbad guysâ. So masks are a really potent compliance device.
