Disease Outbreak News Spurs Conformity and Xenophobia, Studies From 685 Italians to Lab Tests Suggest
Updated
Updated · BBC.com · Jul 3
Disease Outbreak News Spurs Conformity and Xenophobia, Studies From 685 Italians to Lab Tests Suggest
1 articles · Updated · BBC.com · Jul 3
Summary
Disease-outbreak headlines can activate a “behavioural immune system” that pushes people toward greater conformity, harsher moral judgments and more suspicion of outsiders, even when they face little direct infection risk.
Lab studies tied those shifts to reminders of illness: students aligned more with peers after recalling sickness, and viewers shown infection-related images followed group ratings more than those shown non-infectious accident scenes.
Pandemic-era evidence points in the same direction but is less consistent. A survey of 685 Italians in April-May 2020 linked stronger virus fears to colder views of minorities, including immigrants and foreign nationals.
Researchers say the effect likely evolved to avoid pathogens through disgust, norm-following and wariness of unfamiliar groups, but education, personality and other social influences mean outbreak news is unlikely to determine behavior on its own.