Interpersonal value regulates infection-risky social contact across 61 societies.

Interpersonal value strongly influences infection-risky social contact across 61 societies, with higher-value targets linked to increased comfort and physical contact.

• Why it matters: Understanding how social organisms balance cooperation with infection risk is crucial, especially given cultural and ecological differences that may shape these behaviors.
• What they did: Researchers collected data from 47,756 participants across 61 societies, asking them to rate their comfort with infection-risky contact and physical greetings with social targets of varying value.
• The result: Findings show that infection-risky contact correlates with target interpersonal value in all societies, and societal factors like pathogen prevalence, individualism, and relational mobility modulate this relationship primarily for high-value targets.