Thursday, March 28, 2024
News

People afraid of catching Covid are more judgemental: Study

   SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend    Print this Page   COMMENT

London | Wednesday, 2021 9:15:05 PM IST
People more concerned about catching Covid-19 were more disapproving of the wrong-doings of others, whatever they were doing wrong, according to a study on how we make moral judgements.

The findings are evidence that our morality is shaped by various emotions and intuitions, of which concerns about health and safety are prominent. This means that our judgements of wrongdoing are not completely rational, said researchers from the University of Cambridge in the UK.

The study, published in the journal Evolutionary Psychology, did not focus on behaviours relating to the pandemic itself -- such as social distancing -- but considered a wide range of moral transgressions.

Between March and May 2020, over 900 study participants in the US were presented with a series of scenarios -- on harm, fairness, in-group loyalty, deference to authority, and purity -- and asked to rate them on a scale from 'not at all wrong' to 'extremely wrong'.

Example scenarios include one of loyalty: 'You see a man leaving his family business to go work for their main competitor'; and one of fairness: 'You see a tenant bribing a landlord to be the first to get their apartment repainted.'

People who were more worried about catching Covid-19 judged the behaviours in these scenarios to be more wrong than those who were less worried.

"There is no rational reason to be more judgemental of others because you are worrying about getting sick during the pandemic," said Professor Simone Schnall in the University of Cambridge's Department of Psychology, senior author of the report.

"These influences on judgements happen outside of our conscious awareness. If we feel that our wellbeing is threatened by the coronavirus, we are also likely to feel more threatened by other people's wrong-doing -- it's an emotional link," she added.

The findings contribute to a growing body of evidence of a link between physical disgust -- an emotion designed to keep us from harm -- and moral condemnation.

"The link between being concerned about Covid-19 and moral condemnation is about risks to wellbeing. If you're more conscious of health risks, you're also more conscious of social risks of people whose behaviour could inflict harm upon you," said Robert Henderson, doctoral student in the University of Cambridge's Department of Psychology.

--IANS rvt/in

( 383 Words)

2021-06-09-15:20:05 (IANS)

 
  LATEST COMMENTS (0)
POST YOUR COMMENT
Comments Not Available
 
POST YOUR COMMENT
 
 
TRENDING TOPICS
 
 
CITY NEWS
MORE CITIES
 
 
 
MORE HEALTH NEWS
Study finds how childhood sedentariness ...
Longer genes are associated with ageing...
Dr. Dangs Lab aims to revolutionise heal...
Researchers find ways to reduce side eff...
Study gives insight into role of specifi...
Collaborative study between bariatric, t...
More...
 
INDIA WORLD ASIA
'Congress will win all 6 seats in by-ele...
BJP candidates file nomination from Kazi...
Mumbai: Fire breaks out in Bombay Talkie...
BJP shows concern for people only during...
'Don't have that kind of money to contes...
BJP appoints CR Kesavan as national spok...
More...    
 
 Top Stories
EC-Council Renews USD 3.5 Million C... 
Dominant Jannik Sinner notches win ... 
Taiwan detects 2 Chinese military a... 
TMC's Mahua Moitra to skip ED summo... 
Introduction of T+0 rolling settlem... 
The Art of Living upgrades its Beng... 
Rishabh Pant set to play his 100th ... 
BD India Launches UltraTouch; a New...