How Catching Covid Can Change Your Personality - Dr Diana Fleischman | Modern Wisdom Podcast 290

Dr Diana Fleishman is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Portsmouth and an author. When we get sick with a virus like Covid-19, our bodies respond, but our behaviour and personality also change in a number of important ways and sometimes, it doesn't change back. Expect to learn why avoiding new foods when ill makes evolutionary sense, whether needing the bathroom reduces your belief in free will, why extraversion is reduced when you're sick, what Diana thinks about Evolutionary Psychology's place in mindfulness and much more... Sponsors: Get 20% discount on all pillows at https://thehybridpillow.com Extra Stuff: Follow Diana on Twitter - https://twitter.com/sentientist Check out Diana's blog - https://dianaverse.com/ Check out Diana's website - https://www.dianafleischman.com/ Get my free Ultimate Life Hacks List to 10x your daily productivity → https://chriswillx.com/lifehacks/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom #covid #evolutionarypsychology #personality - Listen to all episodes online. Search "Modern Wisdom" on any Podcast App or click here: iTunes: https://apple.co/2MNqIgw Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2LSimPn Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/modern-wisdom - Get in touch in the comments below or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx Email: modernwisdompodcast@gmail.com

Dr Diana FleischmanguestChris Williamsonhost

Mar 4, 20211h 9mWatch on YouTube ↗

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

How COVID, Inflammation And Illness Quietly Rewire Your Personality And Desires

Chris Williamson and Dr. Diana Fleischman explore how infections—especially COVID—can temporarily or permanently shift personality, mood, social behavior and sexual desire through inflammation-driven “sickness behavior” (lassitude).
They connect evolutionary psychology with real-world phenomena: why we crave familiar food and people when ill, why chronic inflammation can mimic depression or introversion, and how disease threats nudge individuals and societies toward conformity and conservatism.
The conversation broadens into pathogens’ role in mental illness, life-history strategies (live fast vs. slow), changing sexual dynamics post‑COVID, and the ethical/pandemic risks of animal agriculture and the promise of “clean meat.”
Underlying it all is a challenge to modern dualism: our sense of a sovereign, rational self is far more biologically and evolutionarily constrained—and predictable—than we like to admit.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Recognize lassitude as an adaptive sickness state, not just ‘feeling off.’

Fatigue, emotional sensitivity, withdrawal, and heightened pain or rejection sensitivity during illness are part of an evolved program (lassitude) that conserves energy and elicits care, rather than mere weakness or laziness.

Avoid reflexively suppressing fevers and forcing food when ill.

Fever is generally beneficial for fighting pathogens, and digestion is energetically costly and immunologically risky; pushing antipyretics and “you must eat” can work against the body’s evolved strategies for recovery.

Expect temporary personality shifts during and after infections—especially toward caution and conservatism.

High inflammation and perceived pathogen threat reliably reduce openness, risk-taking, novelty-seeking, and extroversion, pushing people toward familiar foods, known relationships, and more conformist behaviors.

Consider chronic inflammation as a hidden driver of mood and cognitive changes.

Conditions like obesity, long COVID, and other inflammatory states can sustain “sickness behavior” (brain fog, low motivation, social withdrawal, anxiety) long after an acute illness seems over; anti-inflammatory strategies may modestly improve emotional resilience.

Understand that illness can fundamentally change relationship dynamics and attraction.

Because traits like energy, extroversion, openness, and libido are costly, serious or chronic illness can alter a partner’s behavior and perceived mate value, making “in sickness and in health” a deeper psychological commitment than most people realize.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

Lassitude is the emotion of being sick – the whole suite of feeling tired, cold, in pain, and needing care.

— Dr. Diana Fleischman

When you’re sick, your fundamental goals really change.

— Dr. Diana Fleischman

In sickness and in health really means: I’ll stay even if your personality fundamentally changes.

— Dr. Diana Fleischman

Nature is, in some fundamental sense, just a suffering cesspool.

— Dr. Diana Fleischman

Until I can hold my evolved psychology at arm’s length, I’m going to be too into it to actually figure out what’s going on.

— Dr. Diana Fleischman

Lassitude and “sickness behavior” as an evolved emotion and behavioral suiteHow inflammation and infections (including COVID) alter personality, mood, and social behaviorEvolutionary trade‑offs: novelty-seeking, extroversion, and conservatism under disease threatFood, familiarity, and caregiving: why illness changes appetite and social needsPathogens, chronic inflammation, and links to mental illness (depression, schizophrenia, asexuality)Life history theory: fast vs. slow strategies, puberty timing, and environmental threatAnimal agriculture, zoonotic risk, and the case for clean meat and reduced suffering

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