Disgust Toward Interracial Couples: Mixed Feelings About Black–White Race Mixing

2020 ◽  
pp. 194855062093941
Author(s):  
Shoko Watanabe ◽  
Sean M. Laurent
Keyword(s):  
Image Classification ◽  
Interracial Couples ◽  
Disgust Sensitivity ◽  
White Race ◽  
Black Couples ◽  
White Couples ◽  
Interracial Romance ◽  
Limited Support ◽  
Sexual Disgust ◽  
Mixed Feelings

Three studies further explored Skinner and Hudac's (2017) hypothesis that interracial couples elicit disgust. Using verbal and face emotion measures (Study 1), some participants reported more disgust toward interracial couples than same-race White and Black couples. In Study 2, only people higher in disgust sensitivity tended to “guess” that rapidly presented images of interracial (vs. White) couples were disgusting. Study 3 used a novel image classification paradigm that presented couples side-by-side with neutral or disgusting images. Participants took longer to decide whether target images were disgusting only when interracial (vs. White) couples appeared next to neutral images. Greater sexual disgust heightened this difference. Mixed evidence suggesting an association of disgust with Black couples also emerged in Studies 2 and 3. Thus, the disgust–interracial romance association may only emerge under certain conditions, and the current research offers limited support for the hypothesis that disgust response is exclusively linked to interracial unions.

Self-other agreement in disgust sensitivity

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annika Karinen ◽  
Joshua M. Tybur ◽  
Reinout E. de Vries
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Political Attitudes ◽  
Romantic Partners ◽  
Disgust Sensitivity ◽  
Trait Variation ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
Self Reports ◽  
Moral Disgust ◽  
Sexual Disgust ◽  
Moral Condemnation

A broad literature indicates that pathogen, sexual, and moral disgust sensitivity relate to, among other things, political attitudes, moral condemnation, and symptoms of psychopathology. As such, instruments measuring disgust sensitivity have been widely used across subfields of psychology. Yet, surprisingly little work has examined whether self-reports in disgust sensitivity reflect systematic trait variation. Here, we present the first study to examine self-other agreement in pathogen, sexual, and moral disgust sensitivity. Romantic partners (n1 = 290), friends (n2 = 212) and acquaintances (n3 = 140) rated each other on these three domains of disgust sensitivity and on the HEXACO personality dimensions. Correlations between dyad partners’ self- and other-ratings were calculated to estimate the magnitude of self-other agreement. We found self-other agreement in all domains of disgust sensitivity (r’s of .36, .46, and .66 for moral, pathogen, and sexual disgust sensitivity, respectively), with this agreement only slightly inferred from personality perceptions (percentages mediated by HEXACO were 15%, 7%, and 33% for pathogen, sexual, and moral disgust sensitivity, respectively). These results suggest that pathogen, sexual, and moral disgust sensitivity reflect systematic trait variation that is detectable by others and distinct from broader personality traits.

scholarly journals Pharyngeal Detection of Staphylococcus aureus as a Possible Factor Related to Disgust Sensitivity in Humans

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (21) ◽  
pp. 8286
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Żelaźniewicz ◽  
Judyta Nowak-Kornicka ◽  
Renata Figura ◽  
Agata Groyecka-Bernard ◽  
Piotr Sorokowski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Staphylococcus Aureus ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Disgust Sensitivity ◽  
Significance Level ◽  
Body Adiposity ◽  
Behavioral Avoidance ◽  
Sexual Disgust ◽  
Scale Levels ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Cost

Disgust triggers behavioral avoidance of pathogen-carrying and fitness-reducing agents. However, because of the cost involved, disgust sensitivity should be flexible, varying as a function of an individual’s immunity. Asymptomatic colonization with Staphylococcus aureus often results from weakened immunity and is a potential source of subsequent infections. In this study, we tested if pharyngeal colonization with S. aureus, evaluated based on a single swab collection, is related to an individual’s disgust sensitivity, measured with the Three Domain Disgust Scale. Levels of immunomodulating hormones (cortisol and testosterone), general health, and body adiposity were controlled. Women (N = 95), compared to men (N = 137), displayed higher sexual disgust sensitivity, but the difference between individuals with S. aureus and without S. aureus was significant only in men, providing support for prophylactic hypothesis, explaining inter-individual differences in disgust sensitivity. Men (but not women) burdened with asymptomatic S. aureus presence in pharynx exhibit higher pathogen disgust (p = 0.04) compared to individuals in which S. aureus was not detected. The positive relationship between the presence of the pathogen and sexual disgust was close to the statistical significance level (p = 0.06), and S. aureus colonization was not related with moral disgust domain.

Boundaries of Love

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chinyere K. Osuji
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Race And Ethnicity ◽  
White Women ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
The United States ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Interracial Couples ◽  
White Couples

How do interracial couples negotiate ethnoracial boundaries? Boundaries of Love: Interracial Marriage from the United States to Brazil takes a novel approach to answering this question by examining how contemporary black-white couples make sense of ethnoracial boundaries in their lives. Based on over 100 qualitative interviews with husbands and wives in black-white couples in Los Angeles and Rio de Janeiro, Boundaries of Love unpacks the cultural repertoires of race-mixing in these two post-Atlantic slavery societies and shows how different approaches to race mixture - celebrated in Brazil versus illegal for much of U.S. history - influence the meanings that contemporary interracial couples give to their lives and social interactions. Employing an innovative “critical constructivist” approach to race and ethnicity, Boundaries of Love compares the experiences of couples involving black men and white women with those of black women with white men in these two diverse, multicultural settings. It reveals the influence of ethnoracial boundaries on: dating preferences throughout the life course in their “romantic career;” comparisons between their own racial identity and how their spouse sees their blackness or whiteness; how parents identify their children and its implications for affirmative action eligibility; how white families handle the introduction of a black in-law; and the compromises couples make spending time together in public. Through its fresh qualitative comparative approach, Boundaries of Love provides a unique perspective on racial dynamics in the United States and Brazil and clearly illuminates the familiar adage that race is a social construction.

scholarly journals Sexual Disgust Trumps Pathogen Disgust in Predicting Voter Behavior During the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 147470491876417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Billingsley ◽  
Debra Lieberman ◽  
Joshua M. Tybur
Keyword(s):  
Political Party ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Voter Behavior ◽  
Party Affiliation ◽  
Disgust Sensitivity ◽  
Sexual Disgust ◽  
Political Party Affiliation

Why is disgust sensitivity associated with socially conservative political views? Is it because socially conservative ideologies mitigate the risks of infectious disease, whether by promoting out-group avoidance or by reinforcing norms that sustain antipathogenic practices? Or might it be because socially conservative ideologies promote moral standards that advance a long-term, as opposed to a short-term, sexual strategy? Recent attempts to test these two explanations have yielded differing results and conflicting interpretations. Here, we contribute to the literature by examining the relationship between disgust sensitivity and political orientation, political party affiliation, and an often overlooked outcome—actual voter behavior. We focus on voter behavior and affiliation for the 2016 U.S. presidential election to determine whether pathogen or sexual disgust better predicts socially conservative ideology. Although many prominent aspects of Donald Trump’s campaign—particularly his anti-foreign message—align with the pathogen-avoidance model of conservatism, we found that pathogen-related disgust sensitivity exerted no influence on political ideology, political party affiliation, or voter behavior, after controlling for sexual disgust sensitivity. In contrast, sexual disgust sensitivity was associated with increased odds of voting for Donald Trump versus each other major presidential candidate, as well as with increased odds of affiliating with the Republican versus the Democratic or Libertarian parties. In fact, for every unit increase in sexual disgust sensitivity, the odds of a participant voting for Trump versus Clinton increased by approximately 30%. It seems, then, that sexual disgust trumps pathogen disgust in predicting socially conservative voting behavior.

Division of Household Labor among Black Couples and White Couples

Social Forces ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terri L. Orbuch ◽  
Sandra L. Eyster
Keyword(s):  
Household Labor ◽  
Black Couples ◽  
White Couples ◽  
Division Of Household Labor

Sex, drugs, and genes: Illuminating the moral condemnation of recreational drugs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annika Karinen ◽  
Laura Wesseldijk ◽  
Patrick Jern ◽  
Joshua M. Tybur
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Genetic Factors ◽  
Genetic Effects ◽  
Recreational Drug ◽  
Recreational Drugs ◽  
Disgust Sensitivity ◽  
The Past ◽  
Recreational Drug Use ◽  
Sexual Disgust ◽  
Moral Condemnation

Over the past decade, evolutionary psychologists have proposed that many moral stances function to promote self-interests, and behavioral geneticists have demonstrated that many moral stances have genetic bases. We integrate these perspectives by examining how moral condemnation of recreational drug use relates to sexual strategy (i.e., being more versus less open to sex outside of a committed relationship) in a sample of Finnish twins and siblings (N = 8,118). Twin modeling suggested that genetic factors accounted for 53%, 46%, and 41% of the variance in drug condemnation, sociosexuality, and sexual disgust sensitivity, respectively. Further, approximately 75% of the phenotypic covariance between drug condemnation and sexual strategy was accounted for by genes, and there was substantial overlap in the genetic effects underlying both drug condemnation and sexual strategy (rg = .41). Results suggest that some moral sentiments are calibrated to promote strategic sexual interests, which arise partially via genetic factors.

Division of Household Labor among Black Couples and White Couples

Social Forces ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 301-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. L. Orbuch ◽  
S. L. Eyster
Keyword(s):  
Household Labor ◽  
Black Couples ◽  
White Couples ◽  
Division Of Household Labor

scholarly journals A Robust Bias Against Interracial Couples Among White and Black Respondents, Relative to Multiracial Respondents

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison Skinner ◽  
James Richard Rae
Keyword(s):  
Predominantly White ◽  
Social Group ◽  
Psychological Theory ◽  
Interracial Couples ◽  
Interracial Romance ◽  
Indirect Measures ◽  
Explicit Bias ◽  
White Sample ◽  
Implicit And Explicit ◽  
The U.S

Interracial couples are an understudied but increasingly common social group in the U.S. We used direct and indirect measures to examine implicit and explicit biases (respectively) against interracial couples among samples of: (a) predominantly White (non-Black; n=1,217), (b) Black (n=293), and (c) Multiracial (n=284) respondents recruited from the U.S. Results provide evidence of implicit and explicit bias against Black-White interracial couples among respondents in the predominantly White Sample and the Black Sample. There was no evidence of such biases among self-identified Multiracial respondents, in fact, they self-reported favoritism for interracial couples. Consistent with psychological theory and our preregistered hypotheses, we found that personal experience with interracial romance and self-reported contact with interracial couples tended to predict lower levels of bias against interracial couples. This research exposes a robust bias against a growing social group (interracial couples) among predominantly White respondents and Black respondents relative to respondents who identify as Multiracial.

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