Why does this matter?
In addition to testing ideas about psychological universality, these shared beliefs could shape interpersonal reactions like avoidance and stigma as well as affect trust and compliance with public health messaging.

See the full paper here: authors.elsevier.com/a/1l7WX3AAzz...

Cross-cultural consistency was extremely high in this ordering of senses (around 95%). When differences did appear, they were associated with a geospatial flourishing index (a combination of population density, pathogen prevalence, human development, and latitude).

When imagining a flu outbreak, the same pattern emerged globally:
Sight > Hearing > Touch > Smell > Taste

People also reported using “safer” senses—those requiring less physical proximity—more than expected, even when they believed other senses might be more effective.

Hi Max, I’ll ask Kaelyn who led the work to get in touch with you.

I'll be giving talks on infection psychology at the Evo preconference and in a main conference symposium with @pdurkee.bsky.social, @bengelbart.bsky.social, and Oliver Sng on "Universality and variation in social judgments across societies." Come by and check it all out!