LaCour Mark, Hughes Brent, Goldwater Micah, Ireland Molly, Worthy Darrell, Van Allen Jason, Gaylord Nick, Van-Hoosier Garrett, Davis Tyler
Department of Psychological Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of California Riverside, CA, USA.
Risk Anal. 2022 Mar;42(3):506-521. doi: 10.1111/risa.13764. Epub 2021 Jun 2.
Many novel diseases are of zoonotic origin, likely including COVID-19. Describing diseases as originating from a diverse range of animals is known to increase risk perceptions and intentions to engage in preventative behaviors. However, it is also possible that communications depicting use of exotic animals as food sources may activate stereotypes of cultures at the origin of a disease, increasing discriminatory behaviors and disease stigma. We used general linear modeling and mediation analysis to test experimental data on communications about zoonotic disease origins from the critical first two months leading up to the declaration of a global pandemic. Results suggest that communications about potential familiar food origins (pigs) affected people's risk perceptions, health behaviors, and COVID-19 stigma compared to more exotic food sources (e.g., snakes). Participants (N = 707) who read descriptions of exotic origins viewed the virus as riskier and reported stronger intentions to engage in preventative behaviors than those who read about familiar origins (pigs). However, reading exotic origin descriptions was also associated with stronger intentions to avoid Asian individuals and animal products. These results are critical for both theory and public policy. For theory, they are the first to experimentally demonstrate that zoonotic origin descriptions can impact intentions to engage in discriminatory behaviors for cultures viewed as the origin of a novel infectious disease. For policy, they offer clear, actionable insights on how to communicate about risks associated with a novel zoonosis while managing the potential impact on discriminatory behaviors and stigma.
许多新型疾病都源自动物，新冠病毒很可能也是如此。将疾病描述为源自多种动物会增加人们对风险的认知以及采取预防行为的意愿。然而，描述将 exotic animals 作为食物来源的信息也可能会激活人们对疾病起源地文化的刻板印象，从而增加歧视行为和疾病污名化。我们使用一般线性模型和中介分析来检验在宣布全球大流行前关键的头两个月里关于人畜共患病起源的传播的实验数据。结果表明，与更多 exotic food sources（如蛇）相比，关于潜在熟悉的食物来源（猪）的信息会影响人们的风险认知、健康行为和对新冠病毒的污名化。阅读关于 exotic origins 描述的参与者（N = 707）比阅读关于熟悉来源（猪）描述的参与者认为病毒风险更高，并且报告采取预防行为的意愿更强。然而，阅读 exotic origin 描述也与更强的避免接触亚洲人和动物产品的意愿相关。这些结果对理论和公共政策都至关重要。从理论上讲，它们首次通过实验证明，人畜共患病起源的描述会影响对被视为新型传染病起源地文化采取歧视行为的意愿。从政策角度看，它们为如何在管理对歧视行为和污名化的潜在影响的同时，就与新型人畜共患病相关的风险进行沟通提供了清晰、可操作的见解。
