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Contamination without contact: An examination of intention-based contagion
Stavrova,O. Newman,George Kulemann,Anna Fetchenhauer,Detlef
Stavrova,O.
Newman,George
Kulemann,Anna
Fetchenhauer,Detlef
Abstract
Contagion refers to the belief that individuals or objects can acquire the essence of a particular source, such as a disgusting product or an immoral person, through physical contact. This paper documents beliefs in a "contact-free" form of contagion whereby an object is thought to inherit the essence of a person when it was designed, but never actually physically touched, by the individual. We refer to this phenomenon as contagion through creative intent or "intention-based contagion" and distinguish it from more traditional forms of contact-based contagion (Studies 1 and 2), as well as alternative mechanisms such as mere association (Studies 2 and 3a). We demonstrate that, like contact-based contagion, intention-based contagion results from beliefs in transferred essence (Study 1) and involves beliefs in transfer of actual properties (Study 4). However, unlike contact-based contagion, intention-based contagion does not appear to be as strongly related to the emotion of disgust (Study 1) and can influence evaluations in auditory as well as visual modalities (Studies 3a--3c).
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2016-11
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Stavrova, O, Newman, G, Kulemann, A & Fetchenhauer, D 2016, 'Contamination without contact : An examination of intention-based contagion', Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 554-571.