Weekly Experiment

Because the significance of mask today is not only a protective tool, but may be regarded as a measure of ethics and responsibility. So this week I conducted an anonymous reply experiment on whether to wear a mask, in order to get people’s true views on whether to wear a mask under different circumstances.

 

The specific steps of the experiment are:

Step 1. I gave two scenes of a street, a crowded subway station with many people , and a secluded road with 3 people at most.

Step 2. Divided people who like to wear masks and those who refuse to wear masks into two groups, with their different choice in different scene situations.

Step 3. The two groups of people each gave me an adjective for whether or not to wear a mask in such a scene. Those who don’t like masks describe people who wear masks, and those who wear masks describe people who don’t like masks.

Step 4. Then anonymously exchanged their adjective answers, to get some feedback about how people feeling when seeing those comments.

 

Scene 1, crowded subway station. (10 participants)

Masks Lover team (describe people without mask):  9 people

selfish, extremely selfish, potential virus spreader, should be caught by the police, don’t cherish life, undermine the results of everyone’s sacrifice and efforts (people consciously isolate themselves at home when COVID-19 is severe, thus reducing transmission), they must be no enough culture background to do this, “Your own trouble, don’t harm us”.

Masks Hater team (describe people with mask):  1 person

necessary, consciously, obedient, nervousness, suffocating, good babies.

When exchange the feedbacks.

Masks Lover team: Of course we must wear a mask in places with a lot of people. Not only to protect myself, I also have to be responsible to other people. What if I happen to be infected with the virus, but I don’t have a fever yet? I am very afraid of becoming that communicator of virus. This will affect my work and also affect the evaluation of me by others. (Confirmed cases will be published their activity routes online for the last two weeks, and many netizens will critique them.)

Masks Hater team: I have the right not to wear a mask. Besides, everyone else wears a mask, even they have the virus, the virus will be kept in their masks. If I don’t wear the mask, I won’t be infected with the virus, right?

 

Scene 2, secluded road with 3 people maximum. (10 participants)

Masks Lover team (describe people without mask): 2 people

Unconsciously, relaxed, no sense of urgency.

Masks Hater team (describe people with mask):  8 people

Are you not afraid of being smothered by masks? boring, stock, can’t breathe.

When exchange the feedbacks.

Masks Lover team: The virus is still spreading throughout the world, and we cannot relax our vigilance. / I have a pollen allergy and I must wear a mask.

Masks Hater team: The virus can only survive for five minutes in the air, and there is no one on this road. The virus must have died long ago. Give yourself some living space. Walking with a mask is really sultry, and running is even more impossible.

 

Conclusion:

In a crowded environment, most people will choose to wear a mask. Although the current spread of COVID-19 in China has been brought under control, people still have lingering fears. Wearing a mask will make people feel more at ease, but it also shows that people are more vigilant towards other people. People are very worried about being infected with the virus and becoming a spreader without knowing it. But when there are few people, the situation will be different. People will associate whether to wear a mask with “enough literacy” and “conscientiousness”. This may be considered a prejudice.

 

 

Cornell Box

My Cornell Box is a more narrative one, which includes: mask, wasted masks, coronavirus (not the real ones), flag from people don’t want to wear masks, anti-mask people and people who are willing to wear masks. The background of the box is a deep-blue starry sky, which presents the viruses are as many as stars. And the sky is very dark, which means that the process of fighting the virus has not seen the “dawn”. So that the scene is about people have different attitudes about whether to wear masks, which creates a gap between people.

 

Identify Participants

 

1. Luo luo (24-year-old currently in Shanghai, China)

She is a nurse who has just finished her internship and works in a community hospital in Jinshan District, Shanghai. Since her work also includes checking whether visiting patients are wearing masks and measuring their body temperature at the entrance of the hospital, she has special experience and feelings about whether or not to wear masks. In China, the types of hospitals are divided into general hospitals and community hospitals. The general facilities of community hospitals are not as adequate as general hospitals, and they are mainly responsible for community vaccination, elderly medicine dispensing, and other medical work that does not require super detailed diagnosis.

In Luoluo’s working place, she often encountered elderly people who refused to wear masks, even though they had also experienced the worst period of COVID-19 in China. Many elderly people will wear masks at the checkpoints, but when they enter the hospital, if the medical staff are not paying enough attention, they will quietly remove the masks. For medical staff, such behavior is very dangerous. However, due to the physical condition of the elderly, they dare not be too forceful to dissuade them. Luoluo once heard that her colleagues tried to force an old woman to wear masks before entering the hospital, which caused the rising of blood pressure of the old woman. Then the staff needed to take great responsibility and even say sorry to the old woman. Therefore, in order to avoid secondary injuries, nurses like Luoluo dare not stop when seeing elderly people in the hospital quietly revealing their noses or taking off their masks. The disobedient people and the virus that may break out again at any time make Luoluo very worried about the situation.

 

2. Jiang (24-year-old currently in New York City, United States)

Jiang just moved from San Diego to New York for 8 months to continue her graduate studies. In her previous living environment, many people did not wear masks because of the distance between people is far enough. She felt that as long as she wear the mask, she was still safe. But when she moved to New York, she felt a little worried. The population in the area where she lives is higher than where she lived in San Diego, but she can always see many people (maybe 2 in 10 people) still don’t wear masks, even in the common laundry room in her apartment building. Occasionally  she is considered as a carrier of the virus because she wears a mask, and she feels helpless. So she now prefers to stay at home and observe the outside world through the window. She hopes that the vaccine will immediately change the status as soon as possible. But compared to when she first moved to New York, she feels that people’s awareness of wearing masks has increased.

According to Jiang’s observation, she found that Asian faces are more likely to wear masks. She and her Chinese roommate both wear masks when they go to the laundry. Although it sounds racial discrimination, such a situation does exist. She is curious whether this is also related to the different cultural backgrounds between Asians and Europeans & Americans. (Some people think that it may be because Europeans and Americans pay attention to physical exercise in their daily lives, so many people think that COVID-19 is a more serious cold, but it will not be so serious that it will kill people. However, the proportion of Asians who exercise is relatively small, so when they face infectious diseases, their “fear of death” will be more serious. This statement needs to be confirmed by more interviews, but many people believe it.)

 

3. Li (23-year-old currently in Dongying, Shandong, China)

Li returned to China from Bristol,UK in August last year. In April, many Britons still did not believe in the role of masks. But up until Li returned to China, Bristol’s masks were almost out of stock. In the process of returning to China, the experience of wearing a mask for more than 24 hours in public transportation and places made him unforgettable. For many international students who have returned to China from foreign countries, the experience of flying for one to two days is indeed like an escape from the dead. On the plane back to China, in fact, some people will quietly expose their noses and breathe in fresh air for a while, because it is too hot and stuffy. But everyone also felt more relaxed. Because being able to board this plane means that “even if we are infected with the virus on the plane, we will be sent to the doctor in a timely manner due to China’s strict measures.”
When Li returned to his hometown of Dongying, he felt a little proud. Because Dongying is the only city in China that has no cases of COVID-19. This is due to the fact that the city has almost no immigrant population with frequently “leave and back”, which reduces the possibility of the virus being brought in and spread from the outside. Although the situation is very gratifying, it also makes many people feel that wearing masks is unnecessary. Li still insists on wearing a mask every day when he goes out to walk his dog. If possible, he also wants to wear a mask for his pet dog. Vigilance is still necessary.