Explaining illness with evil: Pathogen prevalence fosters moral vitalism

Brock Bastian; Christin-Melanie Vauclair; Stephen Loughnan; Paul Bain; Ashwini Ashokkumar; Maja Becker; Michal Bilewicz; Emma Collier-Baker; Carla Crespo; Paul Eastwick; Ronald Fischer; Malte Friese; Angel Gomez; Valeschka Guerra; Jose Luis Guevara; Katja Hanke; Nick Hooper; Li-Li Huang; Shi Junqi; Minoru Karasawa; Peter Kuppens; Siri Leknes; Mujde Peker; Cesar Pelay; Afroditi Pina; Marianna Sachkova; Tamar Saguy; Mia Silfver-Kuhalampi; Florencia  Sortheix; Jennifer Tong; Victoria Yeung; Jacob Duffy; William  Swann

doi:10.1098/rspb.2019.1576

Explaining illness with evil: Pathogen prevalence fosters moral vitalism

Brock Bastian
, Christin-Melanie Vauclair
, Stephen Loughnan
, Paul Bain
, Ashwini Ashokkumar
, Maja Becker
, Michal Bilewicz
, Emma Collier-Baker
, Carla Crespo
, Paul Eastwick
, Ronald Fischer
, Malte Friese
, Angel Gomez
, Valeschka Guerra
, Jose Luis Guevara
, Katja Hanke
, Nick Hooper
, Li-Li Huang
, Shi Junqi
, Minoru Karasawa

Peter Kuppens, Siri Leknes, Mujde Peker, Cesar Pelay, Afroditi Pina, Marianna Sachkova, Tamar Saguy, Mia Silfver-Kuhalampi, Florencia Sortheix, Jennifer Tong, Victoria Yeung, Jacob Duffy, William Swann

School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

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 3,140 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 behavioral 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.

Original language	English
Article number	20191576
Journal	Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Volume	286
Issue number	1914
Early online date	30 Oct 2019
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.1576
Publication status	Published - 6 Nov 2019

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

pathogens
morality
spiritual belief
vitalism
disease

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BastianEtalPFTRSB2019ExplainingillnessWithEvil
This is the accepted version of the following article: Bastian, Brock et al. "Explaining illness with evil: Pathogen prevalence fosters moral vitalism". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 2019. 286(1914) which has been published in final form at: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.1576,
Accepted author manuscript, 0.99 MB

http://10.5061/dryad.jq2bvq85d

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Bastian, B., Vauclair, C.-M., Loughnan, S., Bain, P., Ashokkumar, A., Becker, M., Bilewicz, M., Collier-Baker, E., Crespo, C., Eastwick, P., Fischer, R., Friese, M., Gomez, A., Guerra, V., Guevara, J. L., Hanke, K., Hooper, N., Huang, L.-L., Junqi, S., ... Swann, W. (2019). Explaining illness with evil: Pathogen prevalence fosters moral vitalism. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 286(1914), Article 20191576. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.1576

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title = "Explaining illness with evil: Pathogen prevalence fosters moral vitalism",

abstract = "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 3,140 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 behavioral 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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doi = "10.1098/rspb.2019.1576",

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Bastian, B, Vauclair, C-M, Loughnan, S, Bain, P, Ashokkumar, A, Becker, M, Bilewicz, M, Collier-Baker, E, Crespo, C, Eastwick, P, Fischer, R, Friese, M, Gomez, A, Guerra, V, Guevara, JL, 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-Kuhalampi, M, Sortheix, F, Tong, J, Yeung, V, Duffy, J & Swann, W 2019, 'Explaining illness with evil: Pathogen prevalence fosters moral vitalism', Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 286, no. 1914, 20191576. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.1576

TY - JOUR

T1 - Explaining illness with evil

T2 - Pathogen prevalence fosters moral vitalism

AU - Bastian, Brock

AU - Vauclair, Christin-Melanie

AU - Loughnan, Stephen

AU - Bain, Paul

AU - Ashokkumar, Ashwini

AU - Becker, Maja

AU - Bilewicz, Michal

AU - Collier-Baker, Emma

AU - Crespo, Carla

AU - Eastwick, Paul

AU - Fischer, Ronald

AU - Friese, Malte

AU - Gomez, Angel

AU - Guerra, Valeschka

AU - Guevara, Jose Luis

AU - Hanke, Katja

AU - Hooper, Nick

AU - Huang, Li-Li

AU - Junqi, Shi

AU - Karasawa, Minoru

AU - Kuppens, Peter

AU - Leknes, Siri

AU - Peker, Mujde

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

AU - Duffy, Jacob

AU - Swann, William

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 3,140 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 behavioral 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 3,140 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 behavioral 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 - pathogens

KW - morality

KW - spiritual belief

KW - vitalism

KW - disease

UR - https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.jq2bvq85d

U2 - 10.1098/rspb.2019.1576

DO - 10.1098/rspb.2019.1576

M3 - Article

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 -

Explaining illness with evil: Pathogen prevalence fosters moral vitalism

Abstract

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

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