"People are constantly calculating the gain/loss of doing everyday things like going to the grocery store and not wearing a mask," she said. "Some will go for the shortcut."
The refusal to wear a mask, which has been mandated in numerous cities and states, allegedly figured in the death of security guard Calvin Munerlyn, 43, who was fatally shot after he barred a customer from a Family Dollar store in Flint, Michigan, because she wasn't wearing a mask.
Munerlyn's death placed a spotlight on the people whose job it has become to enforce regulations that rub a lot of people wrong.
"In general, people do not like to be told what to do,? said Elizabeth Dorrance Hall, a professor of communication at Michigan State University.
?Their reactions to being told what to do, however, vary,? Dorrance Hall said in an email. ?For example, if a person was told not to eat cake at a birthday party, they may seek to restore their freedom directly by doing the forbidden act.?
Or, Dorrance Hall said, they might express anger at the person denying them cake or ?exercise a different freedom to regain the feeling of control and choice? by eating something else like potato chips, Hall said.
Some groups, like adolescents, are more prone to riskier behavior like going without masks, Gollan added.
"Sometimes it?s a matter of wanting to control one?s own behavior and in wanting to feel like they?re in control they will do something like this," Gollan said.
"Sometimes, it's a matter of people thinking that wearing a mask doesn't work, or they disbelieve the science."
