How COVID and mandatory masks drove the world crazy, according to Yale researchers

• Yale University researchers found that mask mandates increased feelings of paranoia.
• Paranoia is higher in states where fewer people obeyed mask mandates.
• Believing in conspiracies is linked to paranoia.

Masks, lockdowns, and distance — if these staples of the COVID-19 pandemic made you feel paranoid, you’re not alone.

New research from researchers at Yale University found that the COVID-19 pandemic increased feelings of paranoia, particularly in states where masks were mandated.

Whether it was walking around the neighborhood masked or not seeing friends and family for months, the pandemic likely made you reach your breaking point. Areas that instilled serious mask mandates — like New York City — weren’t the only ones feeling paranoid; the study found that paranoia was heightened in states with low adherence to mask mandates.

The link between masks and paranoia

The research, published in the journal Nature Human Behavior, comes as the Delta variant, a highly transmissible strain of COVID, has threatened the return to normalcy, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommending mask-wearing in some areas, even if you’re fully vaccinated.

Researchers caught lightning in a bottle with the timing of the study. Before the pandemic started, researchers said they began studying the role uncertainty plays in the development of paranoia, so the pandemic’s happenings gave them real-time data to work with.

“Paranoia is, by definition, a social concern. It must be undergirded by inferences about social features,” the researchers wrote. “Our data suggest that paranoia increases greatly when social rules are broken, particularly in cultures where rule following is valued.”

To measure paranoia, participants were asked to complete online surveys and compete in card games where rules could suddenly change, which could influence people to make different decisions and provoke paranoia. They said that both paranoia and choice volatility increased in participants.

The study was extended to COVID-19 and how public health policies, like states that mandated masks and those where masks were just recommended, affects people. They found that paranoia and erratic choices were high in states where masks were mandated. Places where adherence to the rules was lowest resulted in paranoia scores being the highest.

“Essentially, people got paranoid when there was a rule and people were not following it,” said Phil Corlett, associate professor of psychology at the Yale School of Medicine.

Mandates also led to conspiracy believers

As the CDC currently fights misinformation surrounding vaccines, an interesting finding from the study linked mandates with people’s willingness to believe in conspiracy theories.

Researchers said that they found an association between feelings of paranoia and acceptance of conspiracy theories. Think: anti-vaccine information and QAnon conspiracies.

The team said that the link between increased paranoia and the likelihood of endorsing conspiracies isn’t a new finding. In major historical moments, conspiracy theories often arise, like when people said the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks were conducted by the U.S. government.

“In times of trauma and great change, sadly, we have a tendency to blame another group,” Corlett said.