Cultural Defaults During COVID and What We Can Learn

Why did the U.S. suffer so many more deaths per 100,000 people during the COVID-19 pandemic than the East Asian countries of Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea? 

Co-Director Markus, Faculty Affiliate Jeanne Tsai, Research Associate Amrita Maitreyi, and colleagues discuss a new and unexamined reason for these differences in life and death—cultural defaults—and why they matter for health policy. 

Additionally, see commentaries from Santa Clara County Public Health Director Sara Cody, Harvard Social Epidemiology Professor Ichiro Kawachi, and the authors.

Learn More

Cultural Defaults in the Time of COVID: Lessons for the Future | Psychological Science in the Public Interest

Article Commentaries | Psychological Science in the Public Interest

New Paper Examines How Cultural Differences Impacted COVID Mortality Rates | Stanford Report

Cultural Differences Account for Starkly Different Responses to COVID-19 | Association for Psychological Science

How U.S. ‘Cultural Defaults’ Challenge American Public Health and What Public Health Officers Can Do About It | Social Science & Medicine - Population Health