Heidelberg University Marketing Professor Explains Why People React To Mask-Wearing

Face Mask Reaction

Reactance occurs when we feel our freedom is being suppressed by an authority and just to reassert our freedom, we act in the opposite direction to what the authority dictates
Let’s face it, masks are unpleasant. They are unpleasant because we cannot see each other’s facial expressions. They are also unpleasant because they give off a morose hospital-like vibe. Considering the current context, we are pretty sure you know that we are not talking about fancy Halloween masks. At the cost of stating the obvious, we are talking about masks that cover our mouth and nostrils to protect ourselves against Covid-19 microbes. The nostril covering part is the most unpleasant for as it means that we have to breathe inside a tiny space which somehow can make us feel quite trapped.

So, do the authors of this article wear masks when we go grocery shopping? Yes. No matter how unpleasant they are, the very thought of viscous fluid filling up in our lungs is way more unpleasant. Do we understand why some others refuse to wear masks? Kind of. That is precisely why we are writing this article. Now that we have laid out the catch-22 situation of wearing versus not wearing masks, let us tell you what we believe is going on. An obvious reason for people not wearing masks is the unpleasantness which we have mentioned. But a more nuanced reason in our opinion is that the mandatory rules in most countries that order people to wear masks either through regulatory ordinances or social pressures are causing reactance in people.
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Psychological factor
The term reactance was coined by psychologist Jack Brehm in 1966. Psychological reactance occurs when we feel our freedom is being suppressed by an authority and just to reassert our freedom, we act in the opposite direction to what the authority dictates.

Let us explain reactance with a relatable example. Consider an 11-year-old girl who is receiving pocket money from her mother. As the mother is handing her the money, she explicitly, firmly, and authoritatively tells the girl not to spend that money on ice cream. Now, the girl does not like to be talked to that way. She had no intention of getting ice cream but not that she was explicitly forbidden from buying it, she feels the urge to reassert her freedom to choose and ends up buying and relishing ice cream with that money. Before you start judging that little girl, think of how many times you did such a thing as a kid. In fact, think of how many times you may have undergone reactance and did something ‘forbidden’ as an adult! I hope you know where we are going with this.

One author in this article is based out of India and the other is based out of the US. Both have seen the unexplained, animated reactions of certain people against wearing masks. In fact, Prime Minister Modi needs to keep reiterating that even he himself is not above wearing masks. So what is the solution to overcoming such reactance? We have certain suggestions.

Some suggestions
First, suppressing someone’s freedom is denying them agency. By agency, we mean the autonomy to make our own decisions. Therefore, if we frame rules to wear masks as a choice and not as diktats, then we will not be denying people’s agency. For example, an authoritative framing like, “No Masks, No Service” by retail businesses or “You are expected to comply with our guidelines” by a government authority will not engender compliance. However, framing messages as, “You can choose to wear a mask or you can choose to shop/eat elsewhere” by retail business owners or “Help us with the recovery process by wearing a mask” by a government authority will acknowledge people’s agency to choose for themselves.

Second, wearing a mask is an external cue that signals forced compliance. Researchers showed that impression management plays an important factor in people’s reactance. To put it simply, people do not like to give the impression of being compliant and therefore not wearing a mask is kind of showing to the world that they are individualistic and independent. One way around this is to help them assert their individual identity by designing a variety of masks rather than boring white and blue ones. For example, many metal bands such as Metallica are selling Metallica labelled masks as a part of their merchandise. Therefore wearing something that you identify with would then count as a positive impression management exercise and could induce greater compliance.

Lastly, reactance is largely associated with activities that engender fun and pleasure. For many extroverted personalities who are getting restless at home, there is not just the reactance against masks but also an overall reactance against being indoors. Therefore, authority figures have to figure out a way to communicate that they have no intention of curbing fun and pleasure.

For example, in order to discourage people from drinking in tiny indoor spaces inside bars where people are too close to each other, governments of small towns in the state of Ohio have created “DORA Zones”. DORA stands for “Downtown Outdoor Refreshment Area”. Within these zones, people are allowed to carry their beer mugs or any other alcoholic drinks and freely move about outside so that social distancing can be better maintained outdoors. Such initiatives by regulatory authorities can communicate to the public that they are not in the business of being party poopers!

We do acknowledge the frustration of a majority of readers of this article about why do we need to manipulate the framing of messages, create special designer masks, or project a fun-vibe to overcome reactance when the obvious and sensible thing to do is to wear a mask. However, there will always be individuals who are more reactant than others and we need to protect them from getting Covid to protect us from getting it.

Salil is Assistant Professor (Marketing) Heidelberg University, US, and Anuj is Assistant Professor (Marketing), IIM-Ahmedabad