The Contagion Heuristic is a psychological concept that explains how people make decisions based on perceived risk and fear of potential negative outcomes. It suggests that individuals tend to avoid certain behaviors or actions if they believe it may lead to a negative consequence, even if the likelihood of that consequence is low. This heuristic has important applications in various fields, such as marketing, finance, and public health, as it can influence consumer behavior, financial decision-making, and response to infectious diseases. In this essay, we will delve deeper into the concept of the Contagion Heuristic, its underlying mechanisms, and its practical implications in different contexts.
The contagion heuristic is a psychological heuristic leading people to avoid contact with people or objects viewed as “contaminated” by previous contact with someone or something viewed as bad—or, less often, to seek contact with objects that have been in contact with people or things considered good. For example, we tend to view food that has touched the ground as contaminated by the ground, and therefore unfit to eat, or we view a person who has touched a diseased person as likely to carry the disease (regardless of the actual contagiousness of the disease).
The contagion heuristic includes “magical thinking”, such as viewing a sweater worn by Adolf Hitler as bearing his negative essence and capable of transmitting it to another wearer. The perception of essence-transfer extends to rituals to purify items viewed as spiritually contaminated, such as having Mother Teresa wear Hitler’s sweater to counteract his essence.