Description
TitleThe development of disease-avoidant behavior
Date Created2016
Other Date2016-10 (degree)
Extent1 online resource (ix, 77 p. : ill.)
DescriptionUnderstanding how children and adults behave in situations in which they might become ill is critical for preventing the spread of infectious disease. Avoiding individuals who show signs of infectious disease would have been beneficial over evolutionary history, so such behavior may appear early in development and persist throughout adulthood (Boyer & Bergstrom, 2011; Neuberg, Kenrick & Schaller, 2011; Schaller & Park, 2011; Rottman, 2014). However, little has examined whether adults and children actually exhibit behavioral avoidance of contagion, (i.e., sick individuals, and contaminated objects). In addition, psychological mechanisms underlying the development of behavioral avoidance, such as the role of causal knowledge of illness transmission, have not been investigated empirically. In Study 1, we investigated whether adults exhibit behavioral avoidance of illness, and found that they do. In Studies 2, 3, and 4, we explored whether and at what age children show avoidance behavior of sick individuals and contaminated objects. In Studies 2 and 3, we found that preschoolers did not avoid contaminated objects, and that their causal knowledge was unrelated to their behavior. In Study 4, we included older children, and measured whether they avoid contagion, or people who have a contagious illness. We found that children as a group did not avoid contagious individuals until around the age of six, but that avoidance behavior was best predicted by their causal knowledge of contagious illness rather than age. In fact, even 4-year-old children who were able to make predictions about illness transmission in our sample avoided contagious individuals. Finally, in Study 5 we investigated whether prompting preschool aged children to generate explanations about illness would increase their causal knowledge about illness and their avoidance of contagion. Although we did not find an increase in knowledge and avoidance behavior as a result of providing causal explanations, children who were prompted to talk about the point of illness transmission in the story were more likely to avoid. Together, these studies constitute the first developmental investigation of avoidance behavior towards sick individuals and contaminated objects, and our results suggest that avoidance of illness is not early developing and depends on causal knowledge of illness transmission.
NotePh.D.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Noteby Katy-Ann Blacker
Genretheses, ETD doctoral
Languageeng
CollectionGraduate School - Newark Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.
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