scholarly journals Disgust as an adaptive system for disease avoidance behaviour

2011 ◽  
Vol 366 (1563) ◽  
pp. 389-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Curtis ◽  
Mícheál de Barra ◽  
Robert Aunger
Keyword(s):  
Adaptive System ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Disease Avoidance ◽  
Psychological Traits ◽  
Hygienic Behaviour ◽  
Hygiene Behaviour ◽  
Pathogen Prevalence ◽  
Psychological System ◽  
Learning Heuristics ◽  
Pathogen Avoidance

Disgust is an evolved psychological system for protecting organisms from infection through disease avoidant behaviour. This ‘behavioural immune system’, present in a diverse array of species, exhibits universal features that orchestrate hygienic behaviour in response to cues of risk of contact with pathogens. However, disgust is also a dynamic adaptive system. Individuals show variation in pathogen avoidance associated with psychological traits like having a neurotic personality, as well as a consequence of being in certain physiological states such as pregnancy or infancy. Three specialized learning mechanisms modify the disgust response: the Garcia effect, evaluative conditioning and the law of contagion. Hygiene behaviour is influenced at the group level through social learning heuristics such as ‘copy the frequent’. Finally, group hygiene is extended symbolically to cultural rules about purity and pollution, which create social separations and are enforced as manners. Cooperative hygiene endeavours such as sanitation also reduce pathogen prevalence. Our model allows us to integrate perspectives from psychology, ecology and cultural evolution with those of epidemiology and anthropology. Understanding the nature of disease avoidance psychology at all levels of human organization can inform the design of programmes to improve public health.

scholarly journals Disease avoidance motives trade-off against social motives, especially mate-seeking, to predict social distancing: Evidence from the Covid-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pelin Gul ◽  
Tom Kupfer ◽  
Pınar Elmas ◽  
Ebru Ates Kose ◽  
Tolga Koskun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Romantic Partners ◽  
Pathogen Transmission ◽  
Recent Theory ◽  
Disease Avoidance ◽  
Social Motives ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Pathogen Avoidance

Many studies have sought to understand why people’s compliance with social distancing varied during the Covid-19 pandemic. Recent theory suggests that pathogen avoidance behavior is not based only on perceived risk, but on a trade-off between the perceived costs of pathogen exposure and the perceived benefits of social contact. We hypothesized that compliance with social distancing may therefore be explained by a trade-off between pathogen avoidance and social motives, especially mate-seeking. Two studies conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic gave results consistent with this proposition: compliance with social distancing was positively associated with disease avoidance motives but negatively associated with social, especially mating, motives. These associations remained after controlling for predictors identified by previous research, including risk perception and personality. Findings indicate that people who are more interested in seeking new romantic partners (e.g., young men) may be less inclined to socially distance and be more at risk of pathogen transmission.

scholarly journals Exploring the Mechanisms of Influence on COVID-19 Preventive Behaviors in China’s Social Media Users

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (23) ◽  
pp. 8766
Author(s):  
Zeyu Liu ◽  
Huijun Geng ◽  
Hao Chen ◽  
Meng Zhu ◽  
Tingshao Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Moral Concern ◽  
Preventive Behaviors ◽  
Mediation Analyses ◽  
Pathogen Prevalence ◽  
The Face ◽  
Psychological System

The outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) posed a powerful threat to human life. The preventive behaviors of individuals (e.g., home quarantine, disinfection, and wearing masks) play a key role in preserving and controlling the disease. In this case, as a motivational psychological system oriented toward avoiding infection, the behavioral immune system (BIS) may be activated and link to preventive behaviors. This study investigated the mechanisms through which emotional and cognitive processes resulted by BIS have promoted preventive behaviors in relation to COVID-19. We collected data on 22,005 active Sina Weibo users from 31 December 2019 to 8 February 2020 to measure their emotions (including disgust, happiness, and fear), cultural values (individualism and collectivism), moral concern (including purity vice, fairness vice, and authority virtue), and behavioral intentions (including isolation intention, protection intention, and aid intention) using Text Mind software and related dictionaries. Multiple regression and mediation analyses were performed to explore the relationships among variables. The results showed seven complete mediation paths (such as disgust–purity vice–protection intention). Each of these paths describes the effects of cognitive processes caused by BIS on preventive behaviors. We inferred that there may be path mechanisms such as disgust–cognitive processes–preventive behaviors. Using these results, policy makers can take appropriate measures to intervene in preventive behaviors (e.g., by posting disgusting images on social media to evoke disgust). The results can be used to explain differences in preventive behaviors among populations even in the face of similar thread levels. Furthermore, our research provides empirical evidence for the hypothesis of pathogen prevalence.

scholarly journals Disgust as an adaptive system for disease avoidance behaviour

2011 ◽  
Vol 366 (1568) ◽  
pp. 1320-1320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Curtis ◽  
Mícheál de Barra ◽  
Robert Aunger
Keyword(s):  
Adaptive System ◽  
Avoidance Behaviour ◽  
Disease Avoidance

scholarly journals Pathogens Are Linked to Human Moral Systems Across Time and Space

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Atari ◽  
Nils Karl Reimer ◽  
Jesse Graham ◽  
Joseph Hoover ◽  
Brendan Kennedy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychological ◽  
Moral Systems ◽  
Societal Norms ◽  
Pathogen Prevalence ◽  
Psychological Experimentation ◽  
Pathogen Occurrence ◽  
Linguistic Methods ◽  
Pathogen Avoidance ◽  
Multiple Languages ◽  
Historical Periods

Infectious diseases have been an impending threat to the survival of individuals and groups throughout our evolutionary history. As a result, humans have developed psychological pathogen-avoidance mechanisms and groups have developed societal norms that respond to the presence of disease-causing microorganisms in the environment. In this work, we demonstrate that morality plays a central role in the cultural and psychological architectures that help humans avoid pathogens. We present a collection of studies which together provide an integrated understanding of the socio-ecological and psychological impacts of pathogens on human morality. Specifically, in Studies 1 (2,834 U.S. counties) and 2 (67 nations), we show that regional variation in pathogen prevalence is consistently related to aggregate moral Purity. In Study 3, we use computational linguistic methods to show that pathogen-related words co-occur with Purity words across multiple languages. In Studies 4 (n = 513) and 5 (n = 334), we used surveys and social psychological experimentation to show that pathogen-avoidance attitudes are correlated with Purity. Finally, in Study 6, we found that historical prevalence of pathogens is linked to Care, Loyalty, and Purity. We argue that particular adaptive moral systems are developed and maintained in response to the threat of pathogen occurrence in the environment. We draw on multiple methods to establish connections between pathogens and moral codes in multiple languages, experimentally induced situations, individual differences, U.S. counties, 67 countries, and historical periods over the last century.

scholarly journals The Psychological and Socio-political Consequences of Infectious Diseases

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leor Zmigrod ◽  
Tobias Ebert ◽  
Friedrich Martin Götz ◽  
Jason Rentfrow
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Cultural Analysis ◽  
Disease Avoidance ◽  
State Laws ◽  
Metropolitan Regions ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
Pathogen Prevalence ◽  
The Relationship

What are the socio-political consequences of infectious diseases? Humans have evolved to avoid disease and infection, resulting in a set of psychological mechanisms that promote disease-avoidance, referred to as the behavioural immune system (BIS). One manifestation of the BIS is the cautious avoidance of unfamiliar, foreign, or potentially contaminating stimuli. Specifically, when disease infection risk is salient or prevalent, authoritarian attitudes can emerge that seek to avoid and reject foreign outgroups while favoring homogenous, familiar ingroups. In the largest study conducted on the topic to date (N>240,000), elevated regional levels of infectious pathogens were related to more authoritarian attitudes on three geographical levels: across US metropolitan regions, US states, and cross-culturally across 47 countries. The link between pathogen prevalence and authoritarian psychological dispositions predicted conservative voting behavior in the 2016 US Presidential Election as well as more authoritarian governance and state laws, in which one group of people imposes asymmetrical laws on others in a hierarchical structure. Furthermore, cross-cultural analysis illustrated that the relationship between infectious diseases and authoritarianism was pronounced for infectious diseases that can be acquired from other humans (nonzoonotic), and does not generalize to other infectious diseases that can only be acquired from non-human species (zoonotic diseases). At a time of heightened awareness of infectious diseases, these findings are important reminders that public health and ecology can have ramifications for socio-political attitudes, and this can shape how citizens vote as well as how they govern and are governed.

scholarly journals Complexity in Manufacturing: Some Lessons to Learn in Planning and Implementation

1998 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 49-54
Author(s):  
G. Sunderraman
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Adaptive System ◽  
Complex Adaptive System ◽  
Random Perturbations ◽  
New Science ◽  
Human Interventions ◽  
Basic Understanding ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
Learning Heuristics

This paper by Sunderraman explains the need to complement the reductionism of planning' with the holism of ‘learning’ from the perspective of the new science of complexity. The interconnectedness, nonlinearity, discontinuity, feed back loops and human interventions make manufacturing a complex adaptive system. Inherent complexity and random perturbations cause unpredictable fluctuations in manufacturing at all levels. The learning heuristics of adaptive system can effectively tackle situations in manufacturing where the underlying cause structure is unknowable or difficult to isolate. The basic understanding of the tenets of chaos and complexity helps respond to manufacturing reality. The appreciation of real-time learning as a useful complement to planning will bridge the growing divide between implementors and planners in manufacturing.

scholarly journals Food disgust sensitivity predicts disease-preventing behaviour beyond the food domain in the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. e0254648
Author(s):  
Jeanine Ammann ◽  
Meret Casagrande
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Eating Behaviour ◽  
Personal Hygiene ◽  
Disgust Sensitivity ◽  
Disease Avoidance ◽  
Interpersonal Contact ◽  
Hygiene Behaviour ◽  
Shopping Behaviour ◽  
Preventive Behaviour

In the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, personal hygiene behaviours such as proper handwashing have gained significantly more attention and interpersonal contact is performed with great care. Disgust, as a disease-avoidance mechanism, can play an important role in the promotion of hygiene behaviour. We know from previous research that pathogen disgust can be a predictor of an individual’s behaviour in the pandemic. Given that the pandemic greatly affects our food and eating behaviour, the current study aims to add to the existing evidence and to complement it by investigating the role of food-specific disgust in the pandemic. For that, we conducted an online survey in Germany in April 2020, while the pandemic was spreading in Europe. A total of 519 participants completed the survey and provided information about their COVID-19-related attitudes and behaviours and about their food disgust sensitivity. The results show that food disgust sensitivity is an important predictor for an individual’s feelings, shopping behaviour, and disease-preventive behaviour related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that the success of political measures to fight the pandemic critically depends on the population to support and follow the proposed measures, a better understanding of the factors driving individual behaviour is key. Implications for pandemic management are discussed.

scholarly journals “Touch Me If You Can!”: Individual Differences in Disease Avoidance and Social Touch

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 147470492110561
Author(s):  
Gaëtan Thiebaut ◽  
Alain Méot ◽  
Arnaud Witt ◽  
Pavol Prokop ◽  
Patrick Bonin
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Disease Avoidance ◽  
First Line ◽  
Perceived Vulnerability ◽  
Social Touch ◽  
Psychological System ◽  
Perceived Vulnerability To Disease ◽  
The Impact

The threat of diseases varies considerably among individuals, and it has been found to be linked to various proactive or reactive behaviors. In the present studies, we investigated the impact of individual differences in the perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD) on social touch before (Study 1) or during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic (Study 2). We also investigated the influence of personality traits in the covariation between these two dimensions. We found that people who are the most disease-avoidant are also the most reluctant to touching or being touched by others (and this relationship holds when personality traits are taken into account). Interestingly, the association between PVD and social touch increased during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with a few months before. By showing that the fear of contamination has an association with social touch, the findings provide further evidence for the behavioral immune system ( Schaller and Park, 2011 ), a psychological system acting as a first line of defense against pathogens.

scholarly journals An evaluation of the effectiveness of nudge techniques in improving hygiene behaviours in Kindergartens

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-16
Author(s):  
Natalija Rozman ◽  
Branka Strah ◽  
Mojca Jevšnik
Keyword(s):  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Pathogenic Microorganisms ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Work Processes ◽  
Working Process ◽  
Hygienic Behaviour ◽  
Hygiene Behaviour ◽  
Childcare Workers ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Good Hygiene

Abstract Good hygiene practice is an important element in terms of preventing the spread of infections, but it is not always carried out according to instructions among employees in hygienically sensitive work processes. To improve this, tools for nudging hygienic behaviour have been developed, which subconsciously encourage the individual to perform the desired hygienic behaviour. Examples of activity where employees and children constantly come into contact with pathogenic microorganisms are educational institutions (kindergartens). By observing the working process in the selected kindergartens, we wanted to determine the time, technique, and frequency of handwashing among childcare workers and children. In the case of the first ones, we wanted to find out whether they also wear personal protective work equipment. Based on the findings, we wanted to implement the selected nudging tools for better hygiene behaviour. In the first half of the observation, we found that the hygienic behaviour regarding handwashing of childcare workers and children is poor. After setting the nudging tools, hygienic behaviour improved in all the observed groups. The results suggest that the use of nudging tools in kindergartens can significantly contribute to the better implementation of hygienic behaviour (especially handwashing) in childcare workers and children. Consequently, we conclude that with the tools for promoting hygiene behaviour, the incidence of infectious diseases in kindergartens can be reduced. We can direct children towards the healthier and hygienically appropriate way of life by means of the appropriate hygiene behaviour.

scholarly journals Disease Avoidance Motives Trade-Off Against Social Motives, Especially Mate-Seeking, to Predict Social Distancing: Evidence From the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
pp. 194855062110464
Author(s):  
Pelin Gul ◽  
Nils Keesmekers ◽  
Pinar Elmas ◽  
Fatma Ebru Köse ◽  
Tolga Koskun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Romantic Partners ◽  
Pathogen Transmission ◽  
Recent Theory ◽  
Disease Avoidance ◽  
Social Motives ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Pathogen Avoidance

A range of studies have sought to understand why people’s compliance with social distancing varied during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent theory suggests that pathogen avoidance behavior is based not only on perceived risk but on a trade-off between the perceived costs of pathogen exposure and the perceived benefits of social contact. We hypothesized that compliance with social distancing may therefore be explained by a trade-off between pathogen avoidance and various social motives such as mate-seeking. Two studies conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic showed that social distancing was positively associated with disease avoidance motives but negatively associated with social motives, especially mating motives. These associations remained after controlling for predictors identified by previous research, including risk perception and personality. Findings indicate that people who are more interested in seeking new romantic partners (e.g., young men) may be less inclined to socially distance and be more at risk of pathogen transmission.

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