Development of protective behavior and contagion reasoning in a dynamic network SIS game

Children and adolescents receive many messages about germs and contagion, but we know less about how these beliefs translate into incentivized decisions in dynamic social environments where actions create externalities. We implement a repeated “go out vs. stay in” contagion game that maps onto a network SIS process and allows direct comparison of behavior to benchmark optimal policies and to theoretical variants incorporating altruism/prosocial concerns. The game is designed to be developmentally appropriate but formally grounded: participants are embedded in small known networks; infection risk depends on contagious neighbors who go out; staying in deterministically reduces germ count (recovery) while going out yields higher immediate points but risk of increased germs and, for high-risk types, death.