MAGICAL THINKING ABOUT ILLNESS VIRULENCE - CONCEPTIONS OF GERMS FROM SAFE VERSUS DANGEROUS OTHERS

AIDS-related research has documented overreactions to casual contact a nd underreactions to sexual risk. This contradiction is explained by ' 'magical contagion,'' a principle of thinking common in traditional so cieties, wherein contagion is considered socially discriminating, such that harmfulness depends on the nature of the relationship between so urce and recipient. In Study 1, 100 undergraduate participants drew ge rms described as their own, a stranger's, their lover's, or a disliked peer's. Lovers' germs were depicted as less threatening than disliked peers' germs. In Study 2, scenarios described contact with a flu-infe cted lover, stranger, or disliked peer. New undergraduate participants (N = 133) rated how likely they were to become ill and how severely. Although likelihood ratings did not differ, severity ratings followed a linear trend, effects of lover contact being least severe and contac t with disliked peer most severe. Behavioral implications of the blurr ing of feelings about germ source with estimates of germ virulence are discussed.