Masking our risky behavior: how licensing and fear reduction reduce social distancing behavior

Licensing and fear reduction can explain why people only partially adopt health precautions while still believing that they are remaining compliant with recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic. We assessed individuals' attitudes regarding social distancing and personal protective practices, as well as concern about COVID-19 and behaviors in April of 2020. Concern about COVID-19 had dual, competing effects on social distancing behavior. Concern predicted increased social distancing behavior via more positive social distance policy attitudes. However, concern also predicted decreased social distancing behavior via more positive attitudes toward personal protective practices, such as mask wearing. Licensing and/or fear reduction allows individuals to view personal protective practices as substitutable rather than additive measures of safety that should complement social distancing, and this effect is not explained by partisanship or working from home. Policy makers should be cautious when advocating for multiple health precautions of varying effectiveness that are intended to be additive.