In a now-classic study, Paul Rozin, a professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, tested a theory of disgust. He presented his research participants with some apple juice in a clean bedpan. He found that most people avoided drinking the apple juice because according to the participants, the idea of a bedpan is associated with contamination- and therefore, they argue that the apple juice is contaminated. Thus, we find certain ideas and concepts inherently disgusting, even when we don't have a reason to.

At the societal or country level, the presence of pathogens that potentially cause life-threatening diseases promotes social conservatism and political authoritarianism. To clarify, social conservatism, as it is generally understood, implies resistance to social change. This is mostly because we don't want to take risks when it comes to getting infected. That is, the more likely you are to live in an area where you may encounter infectious diseases, the more conservative you are likely to be. Social conservatism is also associated with traits such as an intolerance of ambiguity and threat sensitivity. Thus, the more conservative you are social, the less you want to be put in an ambiguous and threatening situation, which includes a place with infectious diseases.

At a broader level, people tend to conform to traditions in societies where infectious diseases are common; this makes sense — if you avoid engaging in newer activities, you minimize the risk of getting infected by a potentially life-threatening pathogen. This is called the Behavioural Immune System — a "first line of defense" against a new infection. Unfortunately, sometimes as humans, we go a bit further than strictly required — we also categorize other, unfamiliar people as to be avoided. In other words, we might be hostile towards those who are dissimilar to us. Indeed, previous research has shown that if you are more easily disgusted, you are also more likely to accept ethnocentric, xenophobic, or even homophobic beliefs.

Parasite stress, that is, the presence of more parasites in a particular region, is also linked to authoritarianism. Authoritarianism is essentially defined as social conformity, submission to authority, and hostility to social groups that are not in the majority. For instance, an authoritarian government would try to abrogate the rights of minority groups, directly or indirectly persecute those whose ideas do not fit in with the majority groups, and enforce unbridled submission to authority figures such as the police. Such authoritarian systems are also likely to have nepotism and ethnocentrism. In other words, the more the parasite stress in one's area, the more you are likely to conform to majority opinions, and the more you prefer loyalty, respect for authorities, and obedience.

In the context of COVID-19, this seems even more alarming. For instance, while the threat of the disease is high, we have had overactive behavioral immune systems. This includes how we engage with our social worlds — who we let in our homes, and who we are willing to socially interact with. For instance, studies have found that Asian Americans were thought of as a threat during the pandemic, and were subjected to physical and verbal abuse. An individual's social media use also played a role in how much of a threat Asian Americans were perceived to be.

The more unbiased one thinks the social media of one's choice is, the more threatening Asian Americans were thought to be. In other words, if you think your favorite social media, Instagram, is fair and presents the truth, the more you'd believe in the information you encounter there. Because the prejudiced messaging has been that Asian Americans are responsible for the virus, encountering such messages makes people believe that they pose a threat. Further, the less social media one uses, the less likely they are to think of Chinese Americans as a threat. This kind of prejudice spilled over to other racial groups as well. In India, we have seen our brethren from the North East being victims of assault and abuse during the pandemic. Needless to say, social media use exaggerates our fears about and prejudices regarding others.

A recently published study also showed that the more authoritarian your beliefs, the less compliant you are to behaviors such as handwashing and staying at home, which would mitigate COVID-19. They also said that they do not anticipate complying with health behaviors such as self-isolation or getting the vaccine in the future. In other words, not only is it likely that parasite stress increases your need to be submissive to majoritarian beliefs, the reverse is also true — the more authoritarian your beliefs, the less you are likely to comply with health behaviors. This may be because of algorithmic echo chambers, where we get more and more exposed to beliefs that we already hold. In an ongoing study about COVID-19 in India, we also found that the more right-leaning you are, the more you believe that the pandemic response is a cover-up for an impending economic crash and/or a set-up for authoritarianism.

Globally, we have also seen justifications for a number of sometimes arbitrary authoritarian policies. However, historical data points to long-lasting ramifications for politics, caused by previous infections and pandemics. The way forward for us as a society may be to build better public health systems for better political systems — our health is perhaps more political than we have thus far given it credit for.

Arathy Puthiliam

This article was published on 3rd Dec 2021 on News9
https://www.news9live.com/health/as-omicron-variant-sounds-new-covid-19-alarm-why-health-is-more-political-than-we-give-it-credit-for-137928