RAPID: Implications of Coronavirus for Prejudices, Cultural Change, and Health

传染病的威胁在许多方面改变了人们的思维和行为。其中一些变化是显而易见的，比如囤积和焦虑增加。其他变化则不那么明显，比如对疾病相关群体的负面情绪增加，对新奇事物的厌恶感增加。这两种变化对社会福祉和健康都有重大影响。传染病曾经是人类死亡的主要原因。因此，人类进化出许多行为和文化反应，以帮助避免感染。冠状病毒的传播为探索重要的理论问题提供了一个独特的机会，以更好地理解与疾病感知相关的心理过程。该项目研究了在现实世界的威胁（COVID-19）背景下如何感知疾病线索以及它们如何影响行为。该研究测试了当地疾病率和其他背景因素如何影响对疾病线索的感知，以及各种形式的偏见如何影响这种感知。该研究还测试了冠状病毒的传播在多大程度上影响了与传染病有关的群体的健康相关行为和认知。由于疾病带来的耻辱感，据推测，一些群体将避免寻求治疗，并将掩盖其疾病症状，从而进一步加剧了可怕的局面。 传染病威胁引发的现象（如偏见、污名或政策偏好）可能对流行病期间减少和治疗传染病的努力产生重要影响。完善这些模型将为公共卫生应对当前疫情和未来疫情相关政策提供信息。COVID-19疫情将产生广泛的经济及社会影响。政府、机构和企业将从进一步的理解和建模中受益，因为他们寻求应对和适应这场危机和未来的危机。这个RAPID项目采用混合方法（使用大数据和存档时间序列数据分析，大规模纵向调查和跨国研究）来回答有关人类如何应对传染病威胁的社会动态的关键问题。通过研究冠状病毒的传播与偏见，社会态度和其他社会变量的变化，该研究测试了行为免疫系统产生特定威胁感知，文化意识形态，行为和与疾病避免和其他适应性反应相关的实践的假设传染病威胁。该研究评估了对各种目标（少数民族、性少数群体、肥胖者、老年人、移民）的偏见和歧视性反应在多大程度上是特定于与疾病有关的目标或普遍适用于所有外群体。它还评估了那些有时因与传染病有关而被污名化的群体的经验和健康相关决策，从而深入了解污名化和偏见如何影响与健康相关的行为。该项目旨在为社会心理学、进化心理学、流行病学、公共卫生和计量经济学等不同学科之间建立新的理论桥梁。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The threat of infectious disease changes how people think and act in a number of ways. Some of these changes are obvious, such as hoarding and increased anxiety. Other changes are less obvious, such as increased negative feelings toward groups associated with disease and greater aversion to novelty. Both types of changes have significant implications for societal well-being and health. Infectious disease was once the leading source of mortality for humans. As a result, humans evolved a number of behavioral and cultural responses to help avoid infection. The spread of coronavirus provides a unique opportunity to explore important theoretical questions to better understand the psychological processes relating to perceptions of disease. This project investigates how disease cues are perceived and how they influence behavior in the context of a real-world threat (COVID-19). The research tests how local disease rates and other contextual factors influence the perceptions of disease cues and how this is influenced by various forms of bias. The research also tests the extent to which the spread of the coronavirus shapes the health-related behaviors and cognition of groups who are stigmatically associated with infectious disease. Because of the associated stigma of disease, it is hypothesized that some groups will avoid seeking treatment and will mask their disease symptoms, further exacerbating a dire situation. Phenomena cued by infectious disease threat (such as prejudice, stigma, or policy preferences) can have important consequences for efforts to reduce and treat infectious disease during epidemics. Refining such models will inform public health responses regarding the current outbreak and policies pertaining to future outbreaks. The COVID-19 pandemic will have broad economic and social impacts. Governments, institutions, and corporations will benefit from further understanding and modeling as they seek to respond and adapt to this crisis and future crises.This RAPID project employs a mixed-methods approach (using big data and archival time-series data analyses, large-scale longitudinal surveys, and a cross-national study) to answer key questions regarding the social dynamics of how humans respond to infectious disease threat. By studying the spread of coronavirus in concert with changes in prejudices, social attitudes, and other social variables, the research tests the hypothesis that the behavioral immune system produces specific threat perceptions, cultural ideologies, behaviors, and practices associated with disease avoidance and other adaptive responses to infectious disease threat. The research assesses the extent to which prejudiced and discriminatory reactions to a variety of targets (ethnic minorities, sexual minorities, the obese, the elderly, immigrants) are specific to disease-related targets or are generalized to all outgroups. It also assesses the experiences and health-relevant decision making of groups who are sometimes stigmatized by their association with infectious diseases, lending insight into how stigma and prejudice influence health-related behaviors. The project aims to create new theoretical bridges among a diverse range of disciplines including social psychology, evolutionary psychology, epidemiology, public health, and econometrics.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.