Jackson G. Lu PhD '18, Mitsui Career Development Assistant Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and a recipient of CJEB’s Doctoral Fellowship, co-authored a paper titled, “Collectivism predicts mask use during COVID-19,” which was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Across 4 large-scale studies, the researchers show that people in more collectivistic (vs. individualistic) regions are more likely to wear masks—both within the U.S. and across the world. This research has been featured in over 35 news outlets in different languages, including:

Cultural psychology explains striking regional differences in COVID-19 mask use (Yahoo!, 5/20/21)

Culture influences mask wearing, study finds (Science Daily, 5/20/21)