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Makeup for the soul: Why young people are increasingly wearing masks again


Written by Dr. Bodo Neumannfor Reitschuster.de

In the early phase of the "pandemic", experts in Germany were still spreading the information that wearing masks was useless because they did not protect. "Respiratory masks for healthy people are unnecessary," wrote the Federal Union of German Pharmacists' Associations in February 2020. Then came the mask requirement, for whatever reason.

After two years of compulsory masks in Germany, it has to be said that we are exactly where the professor of hospital hygiene Ines Kappstein saw it in the summer of 2020: Not only is there no scientific basis for the obligation to wear masks, but one must assume that that wearing a mask all the time is medically simply counterproductive.

This is also the current view of the president of paediatricians, Thomas Fischbach, who fears that the tense situation in the children's hospitals will further worsen, but considers a mask requirement to be counterproductive. And it could get even worse: "Because usually at the beginning of December we are only at the beginning of the cold season. So the peak of the infection wave is still ahead of us” (Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung). However, Fischbach rejected calls for a return to the mask requirement for children and parents.

Psychology of mask wearing
The mask has become a symbol of the deflated face over the past two years. Individuals no longer appear, but a mass is created through uniformity. In addition, the psychological consequences have so far been completely ignored in the debate, such as severe socio-psychological damage, e.g. by damaging elementary socialization processes in children and adolescents. It therefore makes sense to take a closer look at “wearing a mask” from a psychological point of view.

Anyone who deals with psychology as a science always does so against the background of so-called everyday psychology - which contains assumptions and ideas about experience and behavior shared by most people in a culture. As helpful as the concept of personality is in everyday life, it usually remains vaguely formulated. Scientific concepts of personality go beyond these naïve assumptions. The considerations formulated here on the psychology of wearing a mask are intended to be a first reference to everyday psychology on the phenomenon of wearing a mask, which should be followed by further more differentiated scientific personality concepts.

Sociocultural aspects of mask wearing
In Asia, it is a social norm that people wear a mask when they have a cold to protect others. There are also cultural reasons that ensure that breathing masks are the norm in East Asia and the exception in Western culture. This also has something to do with the role played by the community in East Asia. It is about the Confucian understanding of common welfare. The common good is more important than personal ego. This results in a greater focus on the well-being of others. The principle of correct behavior in the collective has a strong influence on many Asian societies.

This is a fundamental cultural difference from the Western understanding of individualism and the individual's pursuit of happiness. The principles that prevail in the western world, such as civil liberties, individual pursuit of happiness, primacy of the economy, and balanced cost-benefit calculations form a sort of antithesis. In addition, study data from other “pandemics” shows that masks are so unpopular in so-called freedom-loving societies because they subjectively create a touch of conformity. Thus, the mask is the perfect symbol for the mentality and culture difference between Eastern and Western societies.

Why we don't like masks
There are deeper causes for the mask aversion. The low acceptance stems from the fact that the face is very important to us in our culture when communicating with our fellow human beings. The face is the dominant social organ. Partial covering of the face means a kind of communication barrier that can lead to misunderstandings. Up to seventy percent of all communication takes place via the visual interpretation of facial expressions. If this facial expression information is missing, we make mistakes when classifying what is communicated.

The mask – make-up for the soul
From a psychological point of view, it is precisely the young people who can "benefit" from wearing masks who tend to be more concerned, defensive and emotionally unstable. The mask as a kind of make-up for the soul can act like a protective shield and cause fewer stress symptoms for the mask wearer in pressure situations.

As soon as some mask wearers are in the social circle of younger people, they no longer find it so strange to wear a mask. The social norm is changing rapidly with our social group: once everyone wears masks, mask wearers will be the norm and others who don't comply will soon start to feel strange. If many wear a mask at events, for example, something like a herd instinct can set in. These are social norms that arise in a situation. When one deviates from others and feels like the only deviant, one has a tendency to conform to the behavior of others. In order not to wear a mask, you first have to be able to defy the social norm.

Especially in younger people, obedience and conformity lead to a superficial sense of belonging. Strictly speaking, conformity is nothing more than the phenomenon of group psychology and peer pressure.

However, it is also evident that younger people feel at different levels of health risk. Therefore, different cautious behaviors have been established over the last few years, whether to wear a mask or not to wear a mask if it is not mandatory.

Another aspect is the phenomenon of "being covered". It is well known that deliberately covering up parts of the face makes it easier to mislead others. It's not for nothing that it's said: Whoever pretends to "put on a mask". This often creates a certain feeling of distrust in the other person.

In the case of the breathing masks, a depth-psychological phenomenon can also emerge, which is based on the interference of the actual mask by the underlying intention of the concealment and changes the function of this depending on the intention. At the same time, the "facelessness" of personal identity frees one from the possibility of being held responsible by others and possibly having to justify one's own actions. Thus, the "facelessness" can be a stimulus, especially for younger people in their peer groups, to preconsciously "play games".

Developmental psychological aspects
My personal hypothesis is that the world is more scary today because it has become more confusing. Especially for young people whose psychological development is not yet complete and the "corona pandemic" was and is a significant stressor. How can this be determined? The main reason, according to some developmental researchers, is that the brain continues to develop into the late twenties. The development of the prefrontal cortex, which is important for social decision-making processes and ego development, is not complete until around the age of 25. In addition, the years of life up to 25 are among the most fragile. About three quarters of all psychiatric illnesses begin before the age of 25, the rate of suicide attempts is also highest up to this age overall. In the context of the "corona pandemic" in particular, many became passive, others reacted with massive anxiety symptoms, and others again with psychosomatic symptoms. By changing the subject frequently and using fear as the basic emotion, people's conditioning was maintained. The mainstream media in particular are predestined to manifest these quasi-fixed patterns in the neuronal structures of young people in particular.

Manipulation of the masses
Younger people in particular are receptive to methods of psychological influence. Manipulating the human will and programming people to obey are very likely also known to the "nudging" team in the Federal Chancellery. Since 2015, a team of researchers (psychologists, behavioral economists, lawyers) in the Federal Chancellery has been working on the "Effective Governing" project, including "nudging" strategies to influence citizens' behavior and decisions. Nudging is a behavioral economics method that attempts to influence people's behavior in a predictable way.

It is considered certain that this team was involved in the strategic use of methods and measures ("knowledge of human behavior") of "corona nudging" and thus specifically helped to shape the physical, psychological and social decision-making context in the "corona pandemic", which is more than frightening, especially because of the psychosocial consequences for children and young people, including in relation to wearing masks.

When the masks fall
Despite the demonstrably low effectiveness of wearing a mask, politicians and the media as well as parts of medicine continue to propagate wearing a mask. Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP) is currently claiming: “Protect masks. And in certain situations, a mask requirement is also reasonable.” But he also says that the state can only prescribe mask requirements if there is sufficient evidence, i.e. with scientific evidence of their effectiveness and evidence of the protective effect of masks.

So let's rather rely on the president of paediatricians, Thomas Fischbach: "The cry for masks is the usual reflex of politics. The mask requirement of the past two years is an important reason for the current crisis," he says. Because of the masks, neither the children's nor the parents' immune systems were trained.

Let's stay vigilant!

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