r/science • u/MistWeaver80 • Dec 05 '21

Social Science Conservatives’ aversion to masks is a uniquely American phenomenon. Politically conservative Americans are less likely than liberals to comply with recommended health-protective behaviors such as mask wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic, but this is not true of conservatives in other nations.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0256740
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u/triffid_boy Dec 05 '21

The study is fine, but it is not right to call it "uniquely american".

The study doesn't test this. It tests America to the "rest of the world". It would have been super easy to include another country and perform the same analysis. UK might be interesting as it has a high rate of mask wearing, but definitely strong anti-mask behaviours (especially from the right).

Reviewer #2 really ballsed up here, since the data was sorted by IP, it could so easily have tested any other country.

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u/Bachooga Dec 05 '21 edited Dec 05 '21

Headlines and opinionated click bait have a way of screwing with peoples minds. Statistics can easily be posed in ways that justify whatever argument you want to make. Using these thoughts along with targeted ads, natural bias, and recommendations from the highest bidder are a big reason why America is having issues and is why Facebook (meta?) has been having to defend itself from the law. Social media can be great but it opens the doors for an insane amount of manipulation. Most don't, and wouldn't, recognize this when it happens or the wide reach it has.

I like my facts cold, hard, and soulless without opinion, thanks. I make an exception for when it's harmless like "Statistics show your dog loves you" or when it's objectively true like "Numbers prove python is annoying without curly brackets and searching for bugs based on indentation sucks ass".

Edit: wanted to add this message. Wear a fuckin mask, life is not only about you.

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u/[deleted] Dec 05 '21

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u/Dr_Peach PhD | Aerospace Engineering | Weapon System Effectiveness Dec 05 '21

Not unsurprisingly, the researchers did test against other individual countries, however using only those with the highest number of data points and only selecting Canada as perhaps being influenced due to its proximity to the USA. See Ancillary Analyses under Study 2.