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You probably know something about the immune system. Some people have AIDs or are HIV-positive; some, especially women, have autoimmune diseases like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis. But have you ever heard of the BEHAVIOURAL immune system?
It's a term used and likely coined by Mark Schaller of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. The phenomenon is ably described by David Robson in his article for BBC Future, "The Fear of Coronavirus is Changing Our Psychology":
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200401-covid-19-how-fear-of-coronavirus-is-changing-our-psychology
In Robson's words, the behavioural immune system is "a set of unconscious psychological responses ... [which] act as a first line of defence to reduce our contact with potential pathogens."
That sounds suspiciously like instincts to me, although I know the scientific community shies away from using that word to apply to the human animal.
Is it part of the "fight or flight" response? Maybe, although if anything the idea of a behavioural immune system seems to me to REFUTE the fight-or-flight theory. We can't flee from this virus so rather than railing against, it we instead seek refuge in conformity? That's not fighting if we take a passive approach and do as we're told, without analysing the basis for the instructions we're getting.
According to the article, the fear of contagion during a pandemic evokes from our psyche some deeply evolved responses to disease. We become tribalistic and far less tolerant of anyone who strays from conventional sociocultural norms. We leap to harsh moral judgements when it comes to eccentrics or to marginalized groups of people.
I see a certain amount of that - racism, sexism, ageism, classism, xenophobia, homophobia. As well, the age of social media does tend to throw an unfortunate spotlight on knee-jerk reactions and snap judgements. We still need to guard against our unconscious or only half-conscious biases.
But my overriding impression of the response to this crisis has been fairly positive. I see plenty of kindness and compassion and appreciating the funny side of the situation. When most of the world is in social isolation, we develop a new understanding of the lives of those who are socially isolated ALL the time, not just during a pandemic. I find there is more open-mindedness than closed-mindedness.
For me, this lockdown is surreal. My gut reaction is to say "How could this happen?? Medicine has advanced so far since I was a child and we as a society are so much more socially progressive than we used to be!!"
Or are we?
So you see, far from taking refuge in the mores of the good old days, I find myself increasingly questioning a lot of the ideas that I used to take for granted.
It's a term used and likely coined by Mark Schaller of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. The phenomenon is ably described by David Robson in his article for BBC Future, "The Fear of Coronavirus is Changing Our Psychology":
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200401-covid-19-how-fear-of-coronavirus-is-changing-our-psychology
In Robson's words, the behavioural immune system is "a set of unconscious psychological responses ... [which] act as a first line of defence to reduce our contact with potential pathogens."
That sounds suspiciously like instincts to me, although I know the scientific community shies away from using that word to apply to the human animal.
Is it part of the "fight or flight" response? Maybe, although if anything the idea of a behavioural immune system seems to me to REFUTE the fight-or-flight theory. We can't flee from this virus so rather than railing against, it we instead seek refuge in conformity? That's not fighting if we take a passive approach and do as we're told, without analysing the basis for the instructions we're getting.
According to the article, the fear of contagion during a pandemic evokes from our psyche some deeply evolved responses to disease. We become tribalistic and far less tolerant of anyone who strays from conventional sociocultural norms. We leap to harsh moral judgements when it comes to eccentrics or to marginalized groups of people.
I see a certain amount of that - racism, sexism, ageism, classism, xenophobia, homophobia. As well, the age of social media does tend to throw an unfortunate spotlight on knee-jerk reactions and snap judgements. We still need to guard against our unconscious or only half-conscious biases.
But my overriding impression of the response to this crisis has been fairly positive. I see plenty of kindness and compassion and appreciating the funny side of the situation. When most of the world is in social isolation, we develop a new understanding of the lives of those who are socially isolated ALL the time, not just during a pandemic. I find there is more open-mindedness than closed-mindedness.
For me, this lockdown is surreal. My gut reaction is to say "How could this happen?? Medicine has advanced so far since I was a child and we as a society are so much more socially progressive than we used to be!!"
Or are we?
So you see, far from taking refuge in the mores of the good old days, I find myself increasingly questioning a lot of the ideas that I used to take for granted.
