Behavioral avoidance of contagious and non-contagious adults.

Evolutionary theories of disease avoidance propose that humans have a set of universal psychological processes to detect environmental cues indicative of infectious disease. These processes then initiate cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses that function to limit contact with harmful pathogens. Here, we study the conditions under which people exhibit behavioral avoidance of others with a contagious illness or a physical injury (i.e., a broken leg), and the potential mechanisms that underlie this behavior. Across three studies, participants were given the option of sitting at one of two workstations previously occupied by two confederates, one of whom either showed visible symptoms of a cold (contagion condition), wore a lower-leg orthopedic boot and used crutches (broken leg condition), or showed no signs of illness or physical injury (control). We found strong evidence that adults explicitly avoid contact with individuals who show symptoms of a contagious illness. Further, we provide some evidence that adults also avoid individuals with a physical injury, but that this behavior might be driven by implicit, unconscious processes. The findings are discussed in terms of implications for the healthy avoidance of contagion, and the risk for potential stigmatization of non-contagious groups.

When do children avoid infection risks: Lessons for schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The physical closing of schools because of COVID-19 has disrupted both student learning and family logistics. There is significant pressure for in-person learning to remain open for all children. However, as is expected with outbreaks of novel infections, vaccines and other pharmaceutical therapeutics may not be instantly available. This raises serious public health questions about the risks to children and society at large. The best protective measures for keeping young children in school focus on behaviors that limit transmission. It is therefore critical to understand how we can engage children in age-appropriate ways that will best support their ability to adhere to protocols effectively. Here, we synthesize published studies with new results to investigate the earliest ages at which children form an understanding of infection risk and when they can translate that understanding effectively to protective action.

Using Storybooks to Teach Children About Illness Transmission and Promote Adaptive Health Behavior - A Pilot Study.

Although there is a large and growing literature on children's developing concepts of illness transmission, little is known about how children develop contagion knowledge before formal schooling begins and how these informal learning experiences can impact children's health behaviors. Here, we asked two important questions: first, do children's informal learning experiences, such as their experiences reading storybooks, regularly contain causal information about illness transmission; and second, what is the impact of this type of experience on children's developing knowledge and behavior? In Study 1, we examined whether children's commercial books about illness regularly contain contagion-relevant causal information. In Study 2, we ran a pilot study examining whether providing children with causal information about illness transmission in a storybook can influence their knowledge and subsequent behavior when presented with a contaminated object. The results from Study 1 suggest that very few (15%) children's books about illness feature biological causal mechanisms for illness transmission. However, results from Study 2 suggest that storybooks containing contagion-relevant explanations about illness transmission may encourage learning and avoidance of contaminated objects. Altogether, these results provide preliminary data suggesting that future research should focus on engaging children in learning about contagion and encouraging adaptive health behaviors.

Behavioral avoidance of contagion in childhood.

Although there is a large literature on children's reasoning about contagion, there has been no empirical research on children's avoidance of contagious individuals. This study is the first to investigate whether children avoid sick individuals. Participants (4- to 7-year-old children) were invited to play with two confederates-one of whom was "sick." Afterward, their knowledge of contagion was assessed. Overall, children avoided proximity to and contact with the sick confederate and her toys, but only 6- and 7-year-olds performed above chance. The best predictor of avoidance behavior was not age but rather children's ability to make predictions about illness outcomes. This provides the first evidence of behavioral avoidance of contagious illness in childhood and suggests that causal knowledge underlies avoidance behavior.