“Wearing a Mask is the Ethical Thing to Do.”

ynthia M. Bulik ’78, Ph.D., is one of many WT alums whose advice and expertise have been called on to help navigate COVID-19. This excerpt is from her article in the Friday, August 21 online issue of Psychology Today.

“Next time you are debating whether to wear a mask (preferably you won’t even have to debate but it will be automatic, like buckling your seatbelt), ask yourself these simple ethical questions as laid out by Elspeth Tilley, Ph.D., an associate professor at the University of New Zealand.

Virtue checks:
The front page test — would you feel comfortable seeing your behavior on the nightly news?
The significant other test — would the important people in your life be proud of you?

Deontological check:
Are there any rules, laws, codes of conduct, or mandates in my community or workplace that I am bound to abide by?

Consequential checks:
Would you be happy for your action to affect you in the same way it does others (reversibility)?
Would the outcome be acceptable if everyone behaved this way (universalizability)?

And finally, ask yourself: If someone I’m in contact with got sick tomorrow and died, how would I feel about my behavior today? We are all in this together, but we can only get out of it together by thinking also of the comfort and rights of others.”