Explaining illness with evil: pathogen prevalence fosters moral vitalism
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2019Author
Bastian, BrockVauclair, Christin-Melanie
Loughnan, Steve
Bain, Paul
Ashokkumar, Ashwini
Becker, Maja
Bilewicz, Michał
Collier-Baker, Emma
Crespo, Carla
Eastwick, Paul W
Fischer, Ronald
Friese, Malte
Gómez, Ángel
M. Guerra, Valeschka
Guevara, José Luis Castellanos
Hanke, Katja
Hooper, Nic
Huang, Li-Li
Junqi, Shi
Karasawa, Minoru
Kuppens, Peter
Leknes, Siri
Peker, Müjde
Pelay, Cesar
Pina, Afroditi
Sachkova, Marianna
Saguy, Tamar
Silfver-Kuhalampi, Mia
Sortheix, Florencia
Tong, Jennifer
Yeung, Victoria Wai-lan
Duffy, Jacob
Swann, William B
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Bastian, B., Vauclair, CM., Loughnan, S., Bain, P., Ashokkumar, A., Becker, M., ... Swann, WB. (November 06, 2019). Explaining illness with evil: pathogen prevalence fosters moral vitalism. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 286, 1914, 20191576. DOI : https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.1576Abstract
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.