Moral judgments about an activity’s COVID-19 risk can lead people astray

Two new studies show that people consider activities that they think are immoral or unreasonable as riskier — even when they’re not. “Our moral judgments change our factual judgments about the world,” says philosopher of science Cailin O’Connor, [associate professor] of the University of California, IrvineAccounting for moral and other biases in public health messaging is vital to combatting the spread of infectious disease, she says.