1.Heuristic Evaluation:

Accessible Heuristic: When establishing opinions regarding mask-wearing and its possible health impacts, people may rely more on freely accessible information or anecdotes than on academically established data, such as misinformation on social media.

2.Biases and Difficulties:

Confirmation bias is the tendency for people to actively seek out and favour information that confirms their preconceived notions, discounting reliable sources that argue in favour of mask wear.

Backfire Effect: It can be difficult to alter opinions when attempts to rectify disinformation serve to reinforce the initial incorrect assumptions.

The psychological phenomena that causes people to be resistant to altering their opinions in the face of contradicting information presents the difficulty. This is frequently brought on by the need for cognitive consistency as well as the unease that comes with acknowledging that one's views could not be true.

3.Fighting Bias: The "Inoculation Theory" can be useful in overcoming prejudice against mask wear. According to this hypothesis, people can develop resistance to more potent kinds of misinformation by being exposed to weaker or diluted versions of it. Giving people modest doses of factual information regarding the advantages and security of mask weargradually progressing to more thorough explanationscan help immunise them against false information in the setting of mask scepticism.

It is feasible to overcome prejudices and promote a better understanding of mask-wearing by addressing concerns with empathy, highlighting shared ideals, and progressively providing truthful facts.

REF:

Lewandowsky, S., Ecker, U. K. H., & Cook, J. (2017). Beyond Misinformation: Understanding and Coping with the "Post-Truth" Era. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 6(4), 353-369. doi:10.1016/j.jarmac.2017.07.008

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