Study: Sociopaths are more likely to refuse to wear a mask

Between May 21 and June 29, participants completed a test that assessed maladaptive personality traits as well as assessments on apathy and compliance with coronavirus-related measures. The findings were published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.

The researchers found that those who had higher scores in traits including callousness, deceitfulness, hostility, impulsivity, irresponsibility, manipulativeness and risk-taking tended to be less compliant with COVID-19 containment measures, such as mask-wearing, hand-washing and social distancing.

But those who had higher levels of empathy tended to be more compliant with the measures.