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You Know You're Not At The Wheel. You Just Want To Feel Like You Are
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A lot of the public believes in superstition. We know that. And it's not just that they're throwing salt over their shoulders or not walking under ladders, it's that they're buying up surgical masks despite being told that the masks are ineffective for the buyers' purpose, which is to not get COVID-19. So why do they do it? There's some limited research to indicate that "magical thoughts" -- inaccurate beliefs that bad things can be controlled by unrelated actions -- give people a respite from their anxieties. If they think that there's even a remote chance that wearing a mask or filling the house with hand sanitizer and toilet paper will help them survive the coronavirus apocalypse, they'll feel more in control and less uneasy. So there's a prophylactic effect. Still, don't hoard stuff. (Washington Post)
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