Recently, researchers conducted a study on the effect of wearing masks on deviant behavior in China. According to this large-scale study co-authored with MIT, wearing masks for health reasons makes people act more morally. It was found that individuals wearing masks were less likely to engage in deviant behavior than those who weren't wearing them which included: breaking parking regulations, running red lights, and cheating for money. At first I thought that a mask might even encourage deviant behavior because those wearing it gain more anonymity, so the result of this study surprised me. However, it seems that wearing a mask increases moral consciousness, as people sacrifice their personal comfort for the collective good. Also, the outcomes of this research shouldn’t be generalized, since it was conducted only in China, so I wonder if the results of such study would be the same in other countries as well.
Source:
https://scitechdaily.com/wearing-a-mask-can-change-your-behavior/amp/?fbclid=IwAR3yN_OJMfhYqmC4xrPxNKYWItUoq0R0ahxlnQuddaTgFj53f6eB4EGtXzo

Indeed, it's counter-intuitive, just like you observed.
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