ArticlePloS one2021
Experimental evidence that changing beliefs about mask efficacy and social norms increase mask wearing for COVID-19 risk reduction: Results from the United States and Italy.
Article in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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
25 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Masks and respirators for prevention of respiratory infections: a state of the science review.Clinical microbiology reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Trial
- COVID vaccination and economic game decisions: The role of analytical thinking.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2026Article
- Paying in public: Peer effects, impression management, and willingness to pay on digital payment platforms.PloS one · 2026Article
- A norm about harvest division is maintained by a desire to follow tradition, not by social policing.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Masking is good, but conforming is better: The consequences of masking non-conformity within the college classroom.PloS one · 2025Article
- Stigma relating to tuberculosis infection prevention and control implementation in rural health facilities in South Africa - a qualitative study outlining opportunities for mitigation.BMC global and public health · 2024Article
- Descriptive norms can "backfire" in hyper-polarized contexts.PNAS nexus · 2024Article
- Attitudes, Beliefs, and Perceptions Associated with Mask Wearing within Four Racial and Ethnic Groups Early in the COVID-19 Pandemic.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2024Article
- Observed face mask use outside retail chain stores during the COVID-19 pandemic in two cities in the state of Idaho, USA.Journal of community health · 2024Article
- Descriptive norms caused increases in mask wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Risk perception of compound emergencies: A household survey on flood evacuation and sheltering behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic.Sustainable cities and society · 2023Article
- Cognitive predictors of COVID-19 mitigation behaviors in vaccinated and unvaccinated general population members.Vaccine · 2023Article
- COVID-19 and Masking Disparities: Qualitative Analysis of Trust on the CDC's Facebook Page.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- The impact of threshold decision mechanisms of collective behavior on disease spread.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- The influence of social conformity on mask-wearing behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic.Heliyon · 2023Article
- Estimation of Total Cost Required in Controlling COVID-19 Outbreaks by Financial Incentives.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Fostering mask-wearing with virality metrics and social media literacy: evidence from the U.S. and Korea.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Knowledge, attitudes and practices of French university students towards COVID-19 prevention-are health students better?PloS one · 2023Article
- COVID-19 vaccination and mask wearing behaviors in the United States, August 2020 - June 2021.Expert review of vaccines · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In the absence of widespread vaccination for COVID-19, governments and public health officials have advocated for the public to wear masks during the pandemic. The decision to wear a mask in public is likely affected by both beliefs about its efficacy and the prevalence of the behavior. Greater mask use in the community may encourage others to follow this norm, but it also creates an incentive for individuals to free ride on the protection afforded to them by others. We report the results of two vignette-based experiments conducted in the United States (n = 3,100) and Italy (n = 2,659) to examine the causal relationship between beliefs, social norms, and reported intentions to engage in mask promoting behavior. In both countries, survey respondents were quota sampled to be representative of the country's population on key demographics. We find that providing information about how masks protect others increases the likelihood that someone would wear a mask or encourage others to do so in the United States, but not in Italy. There is no effect of providing information about how masks protect the wearer in either country. Additionally, greater mask use increases intentions to wear a mask and encourage someone else to wear theirs properly in both the United States and Italy. Thus, community mask use may be self-reinforcing.
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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.