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Factors Affecting the Risk of Infection01:26

Factors Affecting the Risk of Infection

The hosts' susceptibility to infection depends on several factors. The integrity of the skin and mucous membranes helps protect the body against microbial attacks. When the skin is altered, the chance of infection, limb loss, and even death increases.
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Social Threat-Safety Test Uncovers Psychosocial Stress-Related Phenotypes
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Contamination sensitivity and the development of disease-avoidant behaviour.

Michael Siegal1, Roberta Fadda, Paul G Overton

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TP, UK. m.siegal@sheffield.ac.uk

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences
|November 2, 2011
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Children learn disease avoidance early through disgust and cultural learning. Socialization and cognitive development link contamination cues to disease threats, shaping protective behaviors.

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Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Behavioral Science
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Children possess developing cognitive abilities and limited knowledge of illness, impacting disease avoidance skills.
  • Affective reactions (disgust) and socio-cultural transmission of knowledge are key drivers for children's disease avoidance learning.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the ontogenetic development of knowledge about contamination and contagion in children.
  • To highlight the crucial roles of socialization and culture in shaping children's understanding of disease.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review focusing on developmental psychology and behavioral science.
  • Analysis of the interplay between cognitive abilities, affective responses, and cultural learning.

Main Results:

  • Children's disease-avoidant behaviors are influenced by emerging cognitive skills and affective responses to contaminants.
  • Social and cultural learning are integral to developing children's understanding of contamination and contagion.

Conclusions:

  • Informal and formal cultural learning, alongside cognitive and affective development, shapes children's disease knowledge.
  • Perceptual cues of contamination become linked to disease threats, guiding children's disease-avoidant behaviors.