These Days, a Sneeze is not just a Sneeze
Shari Roan
November 6,2009
LAtimes.com
If “achoo!” makes you jumpy these days, you’re not alone. The swine flu pandemic has made people much more reactive when they hear or see someone sneeze, according to a new study. It found that public sneezing heightens people’s fears about germs and even other, totally unrelated, health hazards.
Psychology researchers at the University of Michigan stationed an experimenter in a busy campus building and instructed her to sneeze loudly as students passed by. Researchers then gave a survey to some of the students that asked them to describe their perceptions of an average American contracting a serious disease, having a heart attack before age 50, or dying from a crime or accident. The students who had just witnessed someone sneezing perceived a greater chance of falling ill, suggesting that the sneeze triggered a broad fear of all health threats, not just ones linked to airborne germs.
Leave a Reply