I see sick people: Beliefs about sensory detection of infectious disease are largely consistent across cultures
Resumen
Identifying interpersonal disease threats is critical for effectively tracking and defending against infection. People hold lay beliefs about the types of sensory information that are most relevant for identifying whether others are sick with contagious illnesses. Are these beliefs universal, or do they vary along cultural dimensions linked with pathogen hazards? Participants in 58 countries (N = 19,217) judged how effective, and how likely they were to use, cues involving the major sensory modalities of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. Across countries, belief patterns were strongly consistent, suggesting a largely universal conceptualization of the role of sensory information for interpersonal disease detection. Results also support a safe senses hypothesis, with perceivers reporting that they would use senses that function at a distance—and thus reduce pathogen transmission risk—more than would be expected based on perceivers’ beliefs regarding the respective efficacy of those senses. Where cultural variation did emerge, this was captured by a cohesive set of socio-ecological factors, including human development, latitude, pathogen prevalence, and population density. Together, these findings reveal a shared lens through which contagious disease is assessed, one that prioritizes minimizing harm to perceivers, and may offer leverage for designing interventions to improve public health.
Andrés Castellanos-Chacón
Asistente de Investigación desde 2019 / Supervisión de enseñanza desde 2019 / Psicología | supervisión 2017-2018
Asistente de investigación en el Laboratorio de Evolución y Comportamiento Humano desde 2019, y practicante de investigación entre 2017 y 2018.
Juan David Leongómez
Profesor Asociado
Mis intereses de investigación incluyen los procesos de selección de pareja y la comunicación vocal en humanos, con una aspiración hacia la comprensión de la musicalidad. También estoy interesado en bioacústica y psicoacústica, así como en estadística y programación en .
Oscar R. Sánchez
Profesor Titular
Profesor e Investigador/Director de EvoCo: Laboratorio de Evolución y Comportamiento Humano de la Facultad de Psicología de la Universidad El Bosque en Bogotá, Colombia.