ArticleFrontiers in psychology2020
Why Do Japanese People Use Masks Against COVID-19, Even Though Masks Are Unlikely to Offer Protection From Infection?
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 61 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
61 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Inferring the true number of SARS-CoV-2 infections in Japan.Journal of infection and chemotherapy : official journal of the Japan Society of Chemotherapy · 2022Pooled it
- Side messages, side effects: Justifying infection prevention but fuelling social polarisation.SSM - population health · 2026Article
- COVID-19-related anxiety and sense of coherence associated with psychological distress among rural residents in Japan during the pandemic late phase.Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2026Article
- Unveiling the "Less is More" paradox: How experience and cognitive filling drive attractiveness in occluded faces.Cognitive research: principles and implications · 2025Article
- Communication difficulties among individuals with hearing impairments during the COVID-19 pandemic and their associated factors: a cross-sectional study using a national survey in Japan.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Effect of individual preventive practices on COVID-19 infection: an analysis of big data collected at PCR testing centers in Hiroshima, Japan.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Expectations regarding the effectiveness of mask-wearing and pandemic fatigue: The experience in Japan.PloS one · 2025Article
- Impact of partial occlusion of the face on multisensory emotion perception: Comparison of pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic.PloS one · 2025Article
- Factors associated with the mask-wearing behavior of university students in Japan: a cross-sectional study of the post-mask-mandate period.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Epidemiological impact of revoking mask-wearing recommendation on COVID-19 transmission in Tokyo, Japan.Infectious Disease Modelling · 2024Article
- Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pediatric out-of-hospital cardiac arrest outcomes in Japan.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- The role of collectivism, liberty, COVID fatigue, and fatalism in public support for the zero-COVID policy and relaxing restrictions in China.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Article
- Association Between Risk Perceptions of COVID-19, Political Ideology, and Mask-Wearing Behavior After the Outbreak: A Cross-Sectional Survey in South Korea.Risk management and healthcare policy · 2024Article
- Political party affiliation, social identity cues, and attitudes about protective mask-wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany.PloS one · 2024Article
- Habitual Mask Wearing as Part of COVID-19 Control in Japan: An Assessment Using the Self-Report Habit Index.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Mask wearing provides psychological ease but does not affect facial expression intensity estimation.Royal Society open science · 2023Article
- Which Expectations to Follow: The Impact of First- and Second-Order Beliefs on Strategy Choices in a Stag Hunt Game.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Filter Masks during the Second Phase of SARS-CoV-2: Study on Population.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
1 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Wearing masks against 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) is beneficial in suppressing pandemic spread, not through preventing the wearer from being infected but by preventing the wearer from infecting others. Despite not providing much protection, the custom of wearing masks has prevailed in East Asia from the early stages of the pandemic, especially in Japan, to such an extent that it caused a shortfall in supply. Why do many Japanese people wear masks during the COVID-19 pandemic, even though masks are unlikely to prevent them from getting infected? We examined six possible psychological reasons for wearing masks: three involved expectations about the risk of infection and three involved other driving psychological forces. The results of our nationwide survey revealed that people conformed to societal norms in wearing masks and felt relief from anxiety when wearing masks. However, risk reduction expectations did not affect mask usage. The social psychological motivations successfully explained much about mask usage. Our findings suggest that policymakers responsible for public health should consider social motivations when implementing public strategies to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.