The influence of contagious disease threat on general risk-taking tendency
- 4 August 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Scientific Journal Publishers Ltd in Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal
- Vol. 49 (8), 1-10
- https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.8133
Abstract
We conducted two studies to investigate the effects of the threat of a contagious disease on people's tendency to engage in risk-taking behaviors that are not directly related to the disease, such as investment decisions. In Study 1 we demonstrated that individual differences in germ aversion influenced risk-taking tendency. Participants with relatively high germ aversion were less likely than were those with relatively low germ aversion to engage in risk-taking behaviors encompassing the ethical, investment, gambling, recreational, health, and social domains. In Study 2 we replicated the results of Study 1 in a different setting and examined the underlying process by which perceived disease threat inhibits risk taking. The findings suggest that the threat of disease-induced negative affect decreased risk-taking tendencies. This implies that precautionary behavior activated by disease-threat salience can extend beyond the health domain to a broader range of situations.Keywords
This publication has 22 references indexed in Scilit:
- Threat(s) and conformity deconstructed: Perceived threat of infectious disease and its implications for conformist attitudes and behaviorEuropean Journal of Social Psychology, 2011
- Vulnerability to disease is associated with a domain‐specific preference for symmetrical faces relative to symmetrical non‐face stimuliEuropean Journal of Social Psychology, 2011
- Sneezing in Times of a Flu PandemicPsychological Science, 2010
- Perceived vulnerability to disease: Development and validation of a 15-item self-report instrumentPersonality and Individual Differences, 2009
- A pox on the mind: Disjunction of attention and memory in the processing of physical disfigurementJournal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2009
- Disgust as a disease-avoidance mechanism.Psychological Bulletin, 2009
- Pathogen prevalence predicts human cross-cultural variability in individualism/collectivismProceedings. Biological sciences, 2008
- Natural selection and the regulation of defenses: A signal detection analysis of the smoke detector principleEvolution and Human Behavior, 2005
- Evolved Disease-Avoidance Mechanisms and Contemporary Xenophobic AttitudesGroup Processes & Intergroup Relations, 2004
- A domain‐specific risk‐attitude scale: measuring risk perceptions and risk behaviorsJournal of Behavioral Decision Making, 2002