scholarly journals Disease Avoidance Motives Trade-Off Against Social Motives, Especially Mate-Seeking, to Predict Social Distancing: Evidence From the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
pp. 194855062110464
Author(s):  
Pelin Gul ◽  
Nils Keesmekers ◽  
Pinar Elmas ◽  
Fatma Ebru Köse ◽  
Tolga Koskun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Romantic Partners ◽  
Pathogen Transmission ◽  
Recent Theory ◽  
Disease Avoidance ◽  
Social Motives ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Pathogen Avoidance

A range of studies have sought to understand why people’s compliance with social distancing varied during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent theory suggests that pathogen avoidance behavior is based not only on perceived risk but on a trade-off between the perceived costs of pathogen exposure and the perceived benefits of social contact. We hypothesized that compliance with social distancing may therefore be explained by a trade-off between pathogen avoidance and various social motives such as mate-seeking. Two studies conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic showed that social distancing was positively associated with disease avoidance motives but negatively associated with social motives, especially mating motives. These associations remained after controlling for predictors identified by previous research, including risk perception and personality. Findings indicate that people who are more interested in seeking new romantic partners (e.g., young men) may be less inclined to socially distance and be more at risk of pathogen transmission.

scholarly journals Disease avoidance motives trade-off against social motives, especially mate-seeking, to predict social distancing: Evidence from the Covid-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pelin Gul ◽  
Tom Kupfer ◽  
Pınar Elmas ◽  
Ebru Ates Kose ◽  
Tolga Koskun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Romantic Partners ◽  
Pathogen Transmission ◽  
Recent Theory ◽  
Disease Avoidance ◽  
Social Motives ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Pathogen Avoidance

Many studies have sought to understand why people’s compliance with social distancing varied during the Covid-19 pandemic. Recent theory suggests that pathogen avoidance behavior is not based only on perceived risk, but on a trade-off between the perceived costs of pathogen exposure and the perceived benefits of social contact. We hypothesized that compliance with social distancing may therefore be explained by a trade-off between pathogen avoidance and social motives, especially mate-seeking. Two studies conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic gave results consistent with this proposition: compliance with social distancing was positively associated with disease avoidance motives but negatively associated with social, especially mating, motives. These associations remained after controlling for predictors identified by previous research, including risk perception and personality. Findings indicate that people who are more interested in seeking new romantic partners (e.g., young men) may be less inclined to socially distance and be more at risk of pathogen transmission.

scholarly journals Helping While Social Distancing: Pathogen Avoidance Motives Influence People’s Helping Intentions during the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (22) ◽  
pp. 12113
Author(s):  
Yi Ding ◽  
Tingting Ji ◽  
Yongyu Guo
Keyword(s):  
State Anxiety ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Helping Behavior ◽  
Pathogen Transmission ◽  
Disgust Sensitivity ◽  
Voluntary Work ◽  
Within Subjects ◽  
Pathogen Avoidance

The behavioral immune system (BIS) theory suggests that pathogen avoidance motives relate to greater behavioral avoidance against social interactions that pose potential risks of pathogen transmission. Based on the BIS theory, pathogen avoidance motives would decrease people’s helping behavior towards others. However, would pathogen avoidance motives decrease all types of helping behavior towards others during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (i.e., COVID-19) pandemic indiscriminately? In the present study, we conducted a within-subjects design to compare people’s helping intentions toward voluntary work with and without social contact. Specifically, participants (N = 1562) completed an online survey at the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic in China measuring pathogen disgust sensitivity, state anxiety, and intentions to perform volunteer work with and without social contact. Results revealed that pathogen disgust sensitivity negatively predicted intentions to perform voluntary work with social contact yet had no influence on intentions to perform socially distanced voluntary work. Moreover, the effect of pathogen disgust sensitivity on socially distanced volunteering preference was mediated by the state anxiety people experienced during the pandemic. The findings have implications for understanding people’s helping behavior during the pandemic.

Surviving and Thriving: Fundamental Social Motives Provide Purpose in Life

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (6) ◽  
pp. 944-960 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew J. Scott ◽  
Adam B. Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Purpose In Life ◽  
Goal Pursuit ◽  
Recent Theory ◽  
Disease Avoidance ◽  
Social Motives ◽  
Life Goal ◽  
Mate Retention ◽  
The Status ◽  
Existential Beliefs ◽  
Self Protection

Purpose in life (PIL) is often associated with grand achievements and existential beliefs, but recent theory suggests that it might ultimately track gainful pursuit of basic evolved goals. Five studies ( N = 1,993) investigated the relationships between fundamental social motives and PIL. In Study 1, attribution of a life goal pursuit to disease avoidance, affiliation, or kin care motives correlated with higher PIL. Studies 2 and 3 found correlations of self-protection, disease avoidance, affiliation, mate retention, and kin care motives with PIL after controlling for potential confounds. Study 4 showed that writing about success in the status, mating, and kin care domains increased PIL. Study 5 replicated the effect for mating and kin care, but not for status. Results imply that fundamental motives link to PIL through a sense of progress, rather than raw desire. Overall, this set of studies suggests that pursuit of evolved fundamental goals contributes to a purposeful life.

scholarly journals The trade-off between information and pathogen transmission in animal societies

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valeria Romano ◽  
Cédric Sueur ◽  
Andrew J.J. MacIntosh
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Feedback Loop ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Pathogen Transmission ◽  
Evolutionary Mechanisms ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Individual Fitness ◽  
Network Properties ◽  
Animal Societies

Social structure can regulate information and pathogen transmission via social contact or proximity, which ultimately affects individual fitness. In theory, the same network properties that favor social information transmission also favor the spread of socially-transmitted pathogens, creating a trade-off between them. The mechanisms underlying the development and stability of individual relationships considering this trade-off remain underexplored. Here, we outline the evolutionary mechanisms of social transmission and hypothesize that network topology can be optimized in a way that balances the costs and benefits of social relationships. In this context, emergent network properties might reflect a trade-off between information and pathogen transmission in animal societies. We then propose an implementation of Hinde’s classical framework by incorporating the costs of socializing in a negative feedback loop in the emergence of social structure. We hope this manuscript encourages research into this underxplored social trade-off and the evolutionary processes underlying it.

scholarly journals On the effectiveness of tracking and testing in SEIR models for improving health vs. economy trade-offs

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoav Kolumbus ◽  
Noam Nisan
Keyword(s):  
Additional Parameter ◽  
Patient Privacy ◽  
Economic Costs ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Seir Model ◽  
Social Question ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Asymptomatic Individuals ◽  
Testing Policies

AbstractWe study the effectiveness of tracking and testing policies for suppressing epidemic outbreaks. We evaluate the performance of tracking-based intervention methods on a network SEIR model, which we augment with an additional parameter to model pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals, and study the effectiveness of these methods in combination with or as an alternative to quarantine and global lockdown policies. Our focus is on the basic trade-off between human-lives lost and economic costs, and on how this trade-off changes under different quarantine, lockdown, tracking, and testing policies. Our main findings are as follows: (1) Tests combined with patient quarantines reduce both economic costs and mortality, however, an extensive-scale testing capacity is required to achieve a significant improvement. (2) Tracking significantly reduces both economic costs and mortality. (3) Tracking combined with a moderate testing capacity can achieve containment without lockdowns. (4) In the presence of a flow of new incoming infections, dynamic “On–Off” lockdowns are more efficient than fixed lockdowns. In this setting as well, tracking strictly improves efficiency. The results show the extreme usefulness of policies that combine tracking and testing for reducing mortality and economic costs, and their potential to contain outbreaks without imposing any social distancing restrictions. This highlights the difficult social question of trading-off these gains against patient privacy, which is inevitably infringed by tracking.

scholarly journals Get Close to the Robot: The Effect of Risk Perception of COVID-19 Pandemic on Customer–Robot Engagement

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 6314
Author(s):  
Jifei Wu ◽  
Xiangyun Zhang ◽  
Yimin Zhu ◽  
Grace Fang Yu-Buck
Keyword(s):  
Risk Perception ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Hospitality Industry ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Service Robots ◽  
Industry Analysis ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Risk Seeking ◽  
Positive Effect

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on customer–robot engagement in the Chinese hospitality industry. Analysis of a sample of 589 customers using service robots demonstrated that the perceived risk of COVID-19 has a positive influence on customer–robot engagement. The positive effect is mediated by social distancing and moderated by attitudes towards risk. Specifically, the mediating effect of social distancing between the perceived risk of COVID-19 and customer–robot engagement is stronger for risk-avoiding (vs. risk-seeking) customers. Our results provide insights for hotels when they employ service robots to cope with the shock of COVID-19 pandemic.

scholarly journals Social distancing in public transport: mobilising new technologies for demand management under the Covid-19 crisis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Hörcher ◽  
Ramandeep Singh ◽  
Daniel J. Graham
Keyword(s):  
Public Transport ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Demand Management ◽  
Single Point ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
New Information ◽  
Occupancy Rates

AbstractDense urban areas are especially hardly hit by the Covid-19 crisis due to the limited availability of public transport, one of the most efficient means of mass mobility. In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, public transport operators are experiencing steep declines in demand and fare revenues due to the perceived risk of infection within vehicles and other facilities. The purpose of this paper is to explore the possibilities of implementing social distancing in public transport in line with epidemiological advice. Social distancing requires effective demand management to keep vehicle occupancy rates under a predefined threshold, both spatially and temporally. We review the literature of five demand management methods enabled by new information and ticketing technologies: (i) inflow control with queueing, (ii) time and space dependent pricing, (iii) capacity reservation with advance booking, (iv) slot auctioning, and (v) tradeable travel permit schemes. Thus the paper collects the relevant literature into a single point of reference, and provides interpretation from the viewpoint of practical applicability during and after the pandemic.

Impacts of Social Distancing on Pedestrian Behavior and Risk Perception

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 1302-1306
Author(s):  
Kyra B. Phillips ◽  
Kelly N. Byrne ◽  
Branden S. Kolarik ◽  
Audra K. Krake ◽  
Young C. Bui ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Risk Perception ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Close Contact ◽  
The United States ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
Pedestrian Behavior ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Over Time

Since COVID-19 transmission accelerated in the United States in March 2020, guidelines have recommended that individuals wear masks and limit close contact by remaining at least six feet away from others, even while outdoors. Such behavior is important to help slow the spread of the global pandemic; however, it may require pedestrians to make critical decisions about entering a roadway in order to avoid others, potentially creating hazardous situations for both themselves and for drivers. In this survey study, we found that while overall patterns of self-reported pedestrian activity remained largely consistent over time, participants indicated increased willingness to enter active roadways when encountering unmasked pedestrians since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Participants also rated the risks of encountering unmasked pedestrians as greater than those associated with entering a street, though the perceived risk of passing an unmasked pedestrian on the sidewalk decreased over time.

Senior consumers and risk/benefit trade-off in functional foods

2017 ◽  
Vol 119 (6) ◽  
pp. 1232-1246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aina Ravoniarison
Keyword(s):  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Functional Foods ◽  
Perceived Value ◽  
Repurchase Intention ◽  
Significant Discrepancy ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Personal Variables ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Insight Into

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how French senior consumers deal with duality between perceived risk and perceived value associated with functional foods (FFs) and to analyze whether the risk-value trade-off may help to derive different consumer profiles. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 220 senior consumers (50-70). A two-step clustering analysis was carried out on factor scores of perceived value and perceived risk. Discriminant analysis was then employed to verify the classification reliability, and analysis of variance was performed to profile the clusters on the basis of additional variables. Findings Four distinctive profiles of FF senior consumers were identified. Significant differences were found to be attributed to personality traits. Interestingly, the “Trustful enthusiasts” and the “Ambivalents” consumers do not differ in their repurchase intention, despite a significant discrepancy in risk perception. Practical implications The study is an opportunity to offer a segmentation of this attractive growing target of health-enhancing products. The typology can help the practitioners to find out a new valuable scope of messages to better communicate to elderly market. Originality/value The research seeks to contribute to the existing knowledge on seniors’ nutrition-related behavior, by proposing a segmentation still lacking in research works. Since FF perceived value appears to be multidimensional and not only utilitarian, the study provides a new insight into the experiential approach of health-enhancing eating. Also, it shows how the differences between FF consumers could be attributed to certain personal variables.

scholarly journals Measuring Perceived Risk of Pitfalls Associated with Systems Engineering Tradeoff Analyses

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew V. Cilli ◽  
Gregory S. Parnell ◽  
Robert Cloutier ◽  
Teresa Zigh
Keyword(s):  
Systems Engineering ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Acquisition System ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Defense Acquisition ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Military Operations Research

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has recently revised the defense acquisition system to address suspected root causes of unwanted acquisition outcomes. One of the major changes in the revised acquisition system is an increased emphasis on systems engineering trade-offs made between capability requirements and lifecycle costs early in the acquisition process (Cilli, Parnell, Cloutier, & Zigh, 2015). Given that systems engineering trade-off analyses will play a pivotal role in future defense acquisition efforts, this paper takes an in-depth look at the state of systems engineering trade-off analysis capability through a review of relevant literature and a survey of systems engineering professionals and military operations research professionals involved in defense acquisition. The survey was developed to measure the perceived level of difficulty associated with compliance to the revised defense acquisition system mandate for early systems engineering trade-off analyses and to measure perceived likelihood and impact of potential pitfalls within systems engineering trade-off studies. The survey instrument was designed using Survey Monkey and was deployed through a link posted on several groups within LinkedIn, a professional social media site, and was also sent directly via email to those with known experience in this research area. Although increased systems engineering activity early in the life cycle is a compelling change for DoD, the findings of the literature review and the survey of practitioners both indicate that there is much to be done in order to position the systems engineering community for success so that the improved defense acquisition outcomes as envisioned by the architects of 2015 DoDI 5000.02 can be realized.

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