Interpersonal value regulates infection-risky social contact across 61 societies

Interpersonal contact is essential for cooperation and care, but it also provides a route for pathogen transmission between individuals. Hence, a key challenge for social organisms involves maintaining beneficial social contact while also limiting exposure to infection risks. Existing proposals suggest that this trade-off is guided by the interpersonal value of specific social targets. In addition, ecological and cultural factors, including historical pathogen prevalence, individualism-collectivism, tightness-looseness, and relational mobility, might also shape how people avoid pathogens. To test whether and how infection-risky social contact varies with individual-level interpersonal value and these societal-level factors, we collected data from 47,756 participants across 61 societies. Participants were randomly assigned to picture a social target - either a friend, acquaintance, stranger, or enemy. They then rated their comfort with infection-risky contact with that target (e.g., drinking from the same water bottle) and whether they would touch the target when greeting them. In all societies, participants were more comfortable with infection-risky contact and more likely to engage in physical contact during greetings with targets of higher interpersonal value. Such associations varied only modestly across societies. Notably, the associations between infection-risky contact and societal-level factors depended on target interpersonal value and were concentrated among high-value targets-contact was lower where historical pathogen prevalence and tightness were greater and higher where individualism and relational mobility were greater. These findings suggest that infection-risky contact is primarily guided by the value of social targets, with ecological and cultural factors playing a lesser role.

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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Published
2026-10-15
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2615739123
Primary Topic
Cultural Differences and Values
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article
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article

Interpersonal value regulates infection-risky social contact across 61 societies

Giuliana Spadaro, Laith Al-Shawaf, Yoel Inbar, Tomasz Jarmakowski et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Cultural Differences and Values
article

Interpersonal value regulates infection-risky social contact across 61 societies

Giuliana Spadaro, Laith Al-Shawaf, Yoel Inbar, Tomasz Jarmakowski, Daniel M. T. Fessler, Ingunn Olea Lund, Ekmel Geçer, Kai Qin Chan, Dmitry Sergeevich Grigoryev, Roza Gizem Kamiloglu, Songshi Bai, Florencio Delgado Espinoza, Oluyinka Ojedokun, John Manuel R. Kliatchko, Toko Kiyonari, Tingting Ji, Letícia Yumi Nakao Morello, Felix-Kingsley Obialo, Kaloyan Mitev, Claudio López-Calle, Luis Sebastian Contreras-Huerta, Sonya Karabeliova, William Jiménez‐Leal, Minh-Trí Hà, Loes Abrahams, Ian Hohm, Joshua M. Ackerman, İzzet Duyar, Márta Fülöp, Macarena González-Portilla, Sofia Pelica, Damian R. Murray, Hernán López‐Morales, Tom R. Kupfer, Paul J. Conway, Diogo Conque Seco Ferreira, Jinseok P. Kim, Shanmukh Vasant Kamble, Alexandra Alvergne, Coralie Chevallier, Šárka Kaňková, Benjamin E. Hilbig, Marcello Gallucci, Keiko Ishii, Sergio Barbosa, Trevor I. Case, Benjamin Amponsah, Yutaka Horita, Natalia Frankowska, Watcharaporn Boonyasiriwat, Ferenc Kocsor, Daniela Dlouhá, Zachary H. Garfield, Asako Miura, Norbert Meskó, Ana Luísa Freitas, Pat Barclay, ROBERT M. BOHM, Derya Atamtürk, Gabriela Mariana Marcu, Honnête Nyandu Kasali, Margarida Vaz Garrido, Nils Köbis, D. Vaughn Becker, Ali Rıza CAN, Debra Lieberman, Tobias L. Kordsmeyer, Paulo S. Boggio, Fredy S. Monge, Njål Andersen, David M. G. Lewis, Andrea Camperio-Ciani, Urszula Maria Marcinkowska, Jan Havlı́ček, Jan Antfolk, Pablo Ezequiel Flores-Kanter, Sahar Nadeem Hamid, Ana María Fernández, Mats J. Olsson, Hsin-Ping Hsu, Savannah Adams, Lars‐Olof Hansson, Szilárd Holka, Hongyu Sun, Fiorella Macchiavello, Éloïse Côté, Sam P. Dale, Brahim Hamdaoui, Beatriz Bezerra de Souza, Suyash Mishra, Lorena Lázaro Cuesta, Christian Truelsen Elbæk, Qiran Fan, María Teresa Barbato, Olivia M. James, Minsung Hong, Olga Marchenko, Bruna E. F. Mota, Christine Xiang Ru Leong, Hongtao Liu
article en

Abstract

Interpersonal contact is essential for cooperation and care, but it also provides a route for pathogen transmission between individuals. Hence, a key challenge for social organisms involves maintaining beneficial social contact while also limiting exposure to infection risks. Existing proposals suggest that this trade-off is guided by the interpersonal value of specific social targets. In addition, ecological and cultural factors, including historical pathogen prevalence, individualism-collectivism, tightness-looseness, and relational mobility, might also shape how people avoid pathogens. To test whether and how infection-risky social contact varies with individual-level interpersonal value and these societal-level factors, we collected data from 47,756 participants across 61 societies. Participants were randomly assigned to picture a social target - either a friend, acquaintance, stranger, or enemy. They then rated their comfort with infection-risky contact with that target (e.g., drinking from the same water bottle) and whether they would touch the target when greeting them. In all societies, participants were more comfortable with infection-risky contact and more likely to engage in physical contact during greetings with targets of higher interpersonal value. Such associations varied only modestly across societies. Notably, the associations between infection-risky contact and societal-level factors depended on target interpersonal value and were concentrated among high-value targets-contact was lower where historical pathogen prevalence and tightness were greater and higher where individualism and relational mobility were greater. These findings suggest that infection-risky contact is primarily guided by the value of social targets, with ecological and cultural factors playing a lesser role.

Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesVol. 123(42)
Semmelweis University (HU), Karnatak University (IN), Universidade da Coruña (ES), Tulane University (US), National Research University Higher School of Economics (RU), Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu (RO), Jagiellonian University (PL), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Åbo Akademi University (FI), Aoyama Gakuin University (JP), Austrian Institute of Economic Research (AT), Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NO), University of Padua (IT), University of Ghana (GH), University of British Columbia (CA), University of Nottingham (GB), University of Miami (US), Nanjing Normal University (CN), University of Kaiserslautern (DE), University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (MY), Chulalongkorn University (TH), École Pratique des Hautes Études (FR), Universitat de València (ES), Stockholm University (SE), University of Sussex (GB), Murdoch University (AU), Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VN), Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie (BR), University of Oslo (NO), University of Toronto (CA), National University of Mar del Plata (AR), University of Cuenca (EC), Universidade Federal de Sergipe (BR), Universität Innsbruck (AT), Tilburg University (NL), Yonsei University (KR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Aarhus University (DK), Adolfo Ibáñez University (CL), Charles University (CZ), University of Michigan (US), Karolinska Institutet (SE), Adekunle Ajasin University (NG), Nicolaus Copernicus University (PL), Université Ibn-Tofail (MA), Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary (HU), Indian Institute of Management Indore (IN), Uniwersytet SWPS (PL), University of Oxford (GB), Toulouse School of Economics (FR), Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (FR), Centro de Estudos para a Intervencao Social (PT), Institut Jean Nicod (FR), Max Planck Institute for Human Development (DE), Institute for Conflict Research (GB), Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique (MA), Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Université libre des Pays des Grands Lacs (CD), Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology (HU), Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse (FR), Universidad de Los Andes (BO), National University of Technology (PK), Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition (DE), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Universidad Continental (PE), Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical (PT), Université Laval (CA), University of Southampton (GB), Mustafa Kemal University (TR), Nottingham Trent University (GB), Arizona State University (US), Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" (BG), Nagoya University (JP), University of Duisburg-Essen (DE), University of Milano-Bicocca (IT), Istanbul University (TR), Universidad San Francisco de Quito (EC), University of Pretoria (ZA), University of Applied Sciences Kaiserslautern (DE), University of Göttingen (DE), Marmara University (TR), Moscow State Linguistic University (RU), University of Pecs (HU), University of Guelph (CA), University of Santo Tomas (PH), James Cook University (AU), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL), Teikyo University (JP), International University (KH), Universidad del Rosario (CO), National Cheng Kung University (TW), The University of Osaka (JP), Macquarie University (AU)
National Science and Technology Council, Sultan Qaboos University, China Scholarship Council, National Research, Development and Innovation Office
Good health and well-being
Openalex Percentile: Top 8%
Cultural Differences and Values
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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