Explaining illness with evil: pathogen prevalence fosters moral vitalism
Autor(a) principal: | |
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Data de Publicação: | 2019 |
Outros Autores: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Tipo de documento: | Artigo |
Idioma: | eng |
Título da fonte: | Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
Texto Completo: | http://hdl.handle.net/10071/20133 |
Resumo: | 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. |
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Explaining illness with evil: pathogen prevalence fosters moral vitalismPathogensMoralitySpiritual beliefVitalismDiseasePathogens 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.The Royal Society2020-03-19T16:34:59Z2019-01-01T00:00:00Z20192020-03-19T16:32:44Zinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10071/20133eng0962-845210.1098/rspb.2019.1576Bastian, B.Vauclair, C.- M.Loughnan, S.Bain, P.Ashokkumar, A.Becker, M.Bilewicz, M.Collier-Baker, E.Crespo, C.Eastwickm, P. E.Fischer, R.Friese, M.Gómez, A.Valeschka, M. GuerraGuevara, J. L. C.Hanke, K.Hooper, N.Huang, L.-L.Junqi, S.Karasawa, M.Kuppens, P.Leknes, S.Peker, M.Pelay, C.Pina, A.Sachkova, M.Saguy, T.Silfver-Kuhalam, M.piSortheix, F.Tong, J.Yeung, V. W. - L.Duffy, J.Swann, W.info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2023-07-25T17:25:19ZPortal AgregadorONG |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Explaining illness with evil: pathogen prevalence fosters moral vitalism |
title |
Explaining illness with evil: pathogen prevalence fosters moral vitalism |
spellingShingle |
Explaining illness with evil: pathogen prevalence fosters moral vitalism Bastian, B. Pathogens Morality Spiritual belief Vitalism Disease |
title_short |
Explaining illness with evil: pathogen prevalence fosters moral vitalism |
title_full |
Explaining illness with evil: pathogen prevalence fosters moral vitalism |
title_fullStr |
Explaining illness with evil: pathogen prevalence fosters moral vitalism |
title_full_unstemmed |
Explaining illness with evil: pathogen prevalence fosters moral vitalism |
title_sort |
Explaining illness with evil: pathogen prevalence fosters moral vitalism |
author |
Bastian, B. |
author_facet |
Bastian, B. Vauclair, C.- M. Loughnan, S. Bain, P. Ashokkumar, A. Becker, M. Bilewicz, M. Collier-Baker, E. Crespo, C. Eastwickm, P. E. Fischer, R. Friese, M. Gómez, A. Valeschka, M. Guerra Guevara, J. L. C. Hanke, K. Hooper, N. Huang, L.-L. Junqi, S. Karasawa, M. Kuppens, P. Leknes, S. Peker, M. Pelay, C. Pina, A. Sachkova, M. Saguy, T. Silfver-Kuhalam, M.pi Sortheix, F. Tong, J. Yeung, V. W. - L. Duffy, J. Swann, W. |
author_role |
author |
author2 |
Vauclair, C.- M. Loughnan, S. Bain, P. Ashokkumar, A. Becker, M. Bilewicz, M. Collier-Baker, E. Crespo, C. Eastwickm, P. E. Fischer, R. Friese, M. Gómez, A. Valeschka, M. Guerra Guevara, J. L. C. Hanke, K. Hooper, N. Huang, L.-L. Junqi, S. Karasawa, M. Kuppens, P. Leknes, S. Peker, M. Pelay, C. Pina, A. Sachkova, M. Saguy, T. Silfver-Kuhalam, M.pi Sortheix, F. Tong, J. Yeung, V. W. - L. Duffy, J. Swann, W. |
author2_role |
author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author |
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv |
Bastian, B. Vauclair, C.- M. Loughnan, S. Bain, P. Ashokkumar, A. Becker, M. Bilewicz, M. Collier-Baker, E. Crespo, C. Eastwickm, P. E. Fischer, R. Friese, M. Gómez, A. Valeschka, M. Guerra Guevara, J. L. C. Hanke, K. Hooper, N. Huang, L.-L. Junqi, S. Karasawa, M. Kuppens, P. Leknes, S. Peker, M. Pelay, C. Pina, A. Sachkova, M. Saguy, T. Silfver-Kuhalam, M.pi Sortheix, F. Tong, J. Yeung, V. W. - L. Duffy, J. Swann, W. |
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv |
Pathogens Morality Spiritual belief Vitalism Disease |
topic |
Pathogens Morality Spiritual belief Vitalism Disease |
description |
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. |
publishDate |
2019 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2019-01-01T00:00:00Z 2019 2020-03-19T16:34:59Z 2020-03-19T16:32:44Z |
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv |
http://hdl.handle.net/10071/20133 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10071/20133 |
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
0962-8452 10.1098/rspb.2019.1576 |
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv |
application/pdf |
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
The Royal Society |
publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
The Royal Society |
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv |
reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação instacron:RCAAP |
instname_str |
Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
instacron_str |
RCAAP |
institution |
RCAAP |
reponame_str |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
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Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
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1777303949201637376 |