Bastian, Brock, Vauclair, Christine-Melanie, Loughnan, Steve, Bain, Paul, Ashokkumar, Ashwini, Becker, Maja, Bilewicz, Michal, Collier-Baker, Emma, Crespo, Carla, Eastwick, Paul. W., and others. (2019) Explaining illness with evil: pathogen prevalence fosters moral vitalism. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 201915 (286). ISSN 0962-8452. (doi:10.1098/rspb.2019.1576) (KAR id:78304)
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| Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.1576 |
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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 3140 participants from 28 countries in study 3, we found that historical higher levels of pathogens were associated with stronger endorsement of moral vitalis- tic beliefs. Furthermore, endorsement of moral vitalistic beliefs statistically mediated the previously reported relationship between pathogen prevalence and conser- vative 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.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| DOI/Identification number: | 10.1098/rspb.2019.1576 |
| Uncontrolled keywords: | pathogens, morality, spiritual belief, vitalism, disease |
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology |
| Divisions: | Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Psychology |
| Depositing User: | Afroditi Pina |
| Date Deposited: | 06 Nov 2019 15:40 UTC |
| Last Modified: | 10 Dec 2022 04:59 UTC |
| Resource URI: | https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/78304 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes) |
University of Kent Author Information
Pina, Afroditi.
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 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8850-5625
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