TY - JOUR
T1 - Explaining illness with evil
T2 - Pathogen prevalence fosters moral vitalism
AU - Bastian, Brock
AU - Vauclair, Christin Melanie
AU - Loughnan, Steve
AU - Bain, Paul
AU - Ashokkumar, Ashwini
AU - Becker, Maja
AU - Bilewicz, Michał
AU - Collier-Baker, Emma
AU - Crespo, Carla
AU - Eastwick, Paul W.
AU - Fischer, Ronald
AU - Friese, Malte
AU - Gómez, Ángel
AU - Guerra, Valeschka M.
AU - Guevara, José Luis Castellanos
AU - Hanke, Katja
AU - Hooper, Nic
AU - Huang, Li Li
AU - Junqi, Shi
AU - Karasawa, Minoru
AU - Kuppens, Peter
AU - Leknes, Siri
AU - Peker, Müjde
AU - Pelay, Cesar
AU - Pina, Afroditi
AU - Sachkova, Marianna
AU - Saguy, Tamar
AU - Silfver-Kuhalampi, Mia
AU - Sortheix, Florencia
AU - Tong, Jennifer
AU - Yeung, Victoria Wai Lan
AU - Duffy, Jacob
AU - Swann, William B.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.
PY - 2019/11/6
Y1 - 2019/11/6
N2 - Pathogens represent a significant threat to human health leading to the emergence of strategies designed to help manage their negative impact. We examined how spiritual beliefs developed to explain and predict the devastating effects of pathogens and spread of infectious disease. Analysis of existing data in studies 1 and 2 suggests that moral vitalism (beliefs about spiritual forces of evil) is higher in geographical regions characterized by historical higher levels of pathogens. Furthermore, drawing on a sample of 3140 participants from 28 countries in study 3, we found that historical higher levels of pathogens were associated with stronger endorsement of moral vitalistic beliefs. Furthermore, endorsement of moral vitalistic beliefs statistically mediated the previously reported relationship between pathogen prevalence and conservative ideologies, suggesting these beliefs reinforce behavioural strategies which function to prevent infection. We conclude that moral vitalism may be adaptive: by emphasizing concerns over contagion, it provided an explanatory model that enabled human groups to reduce rates of contagious disease.
AB - Pathogens represent a significant threat to human health leading to the emergence of strategies designed to help manage their negative impact. We examined how spiritual beliefs developed to explain and predict the devastating effects of pathogens and spread of infectious disease. Analysis of existing data in studies 1 and 2 suggests that moral vitalism (beliefs about spiritual forces of evil) is higher in geographical regions characterized by historical higher levels of pathogens. Furthermore, drawing on a sample of 3140 participants from 28 countries in study 3, we found that historical higher levels of pathogens were associated with stronger endorsement of moral vitalistic beliefs. Furthermore, endorsement of moral vitalistic beliefs statistically mediated the previously reported relationship between pathogen prevalence and conservative ideologies, suggesting these beliefs reinforce behavioural strategies which function to prevent infection. We conclude that moral vitalism may be adaptive: by emphasizing concerns over contagion, it provided an explanatory model that enabled human groups to reduce rates of contagious disease.
KW - Disease
KW - Morality
KW - Pathogens
KW - Spiritual belief
KW - Vitalism
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85074290879&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1098/rspb.2019.1576
DO - 10.1098/rspb.2019.1576
M3 - Article
C2 - 31662082
AN - SCOPUS:85074290879
SN - 0962-8452
VL - 286
JO - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
JF - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
IS - 1914
M1 - 20191576
ER -