A Swarthmore College assistant professor of economics may have an explanation why some people won’t keep their distance during the COVID-19 pandemic, writes Queen Muse for phillymag.com.

Syon Bhanot chalks it up to behavioral economics, which looks at what influences people to make choices and how they rationalize those choices.

When individuals bear personal costs, like wearing a mask, that’s called cooperation. But people won’t make changes without resistance.

“One driving force here is that people are trying to make it feel normal by making the argument that this is overblown. And it really is a method for calming themselves down or trying to reassure themselves that this can’t possibly be that serious,” Bhanot says.

We also resist when our freedom is constrained, especially by an outside force. People will trust family and friends before government or experts.

It’s also appealing to be seen as a tough guy rebel. Sheltering in place makes it look like we’re afraid of the virus.

To get people to fall in line we need to make doing the right thing the cool thing to do, with concrete instructions that remind us we’re all in this together.

Read more about why we resist social distancing here.