scholarly journals Disease and Disapproval: COVID-19 Concern is Related to Greater Moral Condemnation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert K. Henderson ◽  
Simone Schnall
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Moral Judgments ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Behavioral Immune System ◽  
Rational Thought ◽  
Moral Condemnation ◽  
Moral Transgressions ◽  
Specific Health

Prior research has indicated that disgust, a manifestation of the behavioral immune system, is associated with harsher moral condemnation. However, the link between physical disgust—an evolved signal of risks to one’s health—and morality has been contentious. We investigated the role of a specific health concern, namely the spread of the coronavirus, and associated COVID-19 disease, on moral condemnation. We hypothesized that individuals who report greater subjective worry about COVID-19 would be more sensitive to moral transgressions. Across 3 studies (N = 913), conducted March-May 2020 as the pandemic started to unfold in the United States, we found that individuals who were worried about contracting the infectious disease made harsher moral judgments than those who were not worried. This effect was not restricted to transgressions involving purity, but extended to transgressions involving harm, fairness, authority, and loyalty, and remained when controlling for political orientation. We furthermore observed suggestive evidence that even relatively unconcerned individuals became more judgmental as the epidemic wore on. These findings add to the growing literature that concrete threats to health can play a role in abstract moral considerations, supporting the notion that judgments of wrongdoing are not based on rational thought alone.

scholarly journals Disease and Disapproval: COVID-19 Concern is Related to Greater Moral Condemnation

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 147470492110215
Author(s):  
Robert K. Henderson ◽  
Simone Schnall
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Moral Judgments ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Rational Thought ◽  
Moral Condemnation ◽  
Moral Transgressions

Prior research has indicated that disease threat and disgust are associated with harsher moral condemnation. We investigated the role of a specific, highly salient health concern, namely the spread of the coronavirus, and associated COVID-19 disease, on moral disapproval. We hypothesized that individuals who report greater subjective worry about COVID-19 would be more sensitive to moral transgressions. Across three studies ( N = 913), conducted March-May 2020 as the pandemic started to unfold in the United States, we found that individuals who were worried about contracting the infectious disease made harsher moral judgments than those who were relatively less worried. This effect was not restricted to transgressions involving purity, but extended to transgressions involving harm, fairness, authority, and loyalty, and remained when controlling for political orientation. Furthermore, for Studies 1 and 2 the effect also was robust when taking into account the contamination subscale of the Disgust Scale–Revised. These findings add to the growing literature that concrete threats to health can play a role in abstract moral considerations, supporting the notion that judgments of wrongdoing are not based on rational thought alone.

New Therapies for Osteoporosis

2008 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-64
Author(s):  
Karly A. Hegge ◽  
Anisa S. Fornoff ◽  
Sheryl L. Gutierres ◽  
Sally L. Haack
Keyword(s):  
Therapeutic Option ◽  
Sequential Therapy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Treatment Of Osteoporosis ◽  
Estrogen Receptor Modulators ◽  
Osteoporosis In Men ◽  
Surrogate Measures ◽  
Receptor Modulators

Osteoporosis is a growing health concern in the United States, with an enormous impact on morbidity and mortality. Despite published guidelines to aid clinicians in its management, several controversies remain. Many trials evaluate surrogate measures of bone strength rather than more clinically relevant outcomes, including fracture. Furthermore, the role of combination and sequential therapy remains unclear. Limited data are available regarding appropriate duration of therapy, management of osteoporosis in men, and treatment of glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis. The development of unique therapeutic agents could potentially revolutionize the treatment of osteoporosis. Once yearly zoledronic acid may provide advantages over existing therapies. Because of limitations with existing selective estrogen receptor modulators, the search for agents with better efficacy and safety profiles has led to the development of several new medications within this class. Finally, denosumab, a monoclonal antibody to receptor activator for nuclear factor-kappa B ligand, also represents a novel therapeutic option for osteoporosis.

scholarly journals Disgust sensitivity and moral judgments of purity: The role of transgression weirdness

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fieke Maria Antoinet Wagemans ◽  
Mark John Brandt ◽  
Marcel Zeelenberg
Keyword(s):  
Moral Judgments ◽  
Disgust Sensitivity ◽  
Total N ◽  
Moral Domains ◽  
Moral Transgressions ◽  
The Relationship

Disgust sensitivity is more strongly related to moral judgments in the purity domain than to moral judgments in other moral domains. While this finding highlights the distinctiveness of moral domains, anti-modularity accounts suggest that the relationship is caused by the relative weirdness of purity transgressions and come to the conclusion that moral domains do not represent distinct mechanisms. In two studies (total N = 2,307), we test whether transgression weirdness accounts for disgust sensitivity’s stronger association with moral judgments of the purity as compared to other moral domains, but find little evidence for this claim. The relationship between disgust sensitivity and moral judgments of purity even remains when taking into account both (perceived) weirdness and (perceived) harmfulness of moral transgressions. These studies show that transgression weirdness and harmfulness cannot explain the disgust sensitivity–purity link, contradicting predictions following from popular anti-modularity accounts.

scholarly journals I think, therefore I forgive: The role of reasoning in forgiving accidental harms

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Indrajeet Patil ◽  
Bastien Trémolière
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cognitive Style ◽  
Time Pressure ◽  
Moral Judgments ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Cognitive Resources ◽  
Reasoning Ability ◽  
Total N ◽  
Moral Condemnation

People experience a strong conflict while condemning someone who brought about an accidental harm, her innocent intention exonerating her, but the harmful outcome incriminating her. In the present research (total N = 4879), we explore how reasoning ability and cognitive style relate to how people choose to resolve this conflict and judge the accidental harms. A first set of studies (1a-c) showed that individual differences in cognitive style predicted severity of judgments in fictitious accidental harms scenarios, with more able (or willing) reasoners being less harsh in their judgments. A second set of studies (2a-c) relied on experimental manipulations of cognitive load (Dot matrix, Time pressure, Mortality Salience manipulations), aiming to tax available cognitive resources to participants while evaluating third-party harmful behaviors. These manipulations, however, failed to modulate people’s moral judgments for accidental harms. We discuss the importance of individual differences in reasoning ability in the assessment of accidental harms, and we also propose potential explanations for the failure of our experimental manipulations to affect severity of moral condemnation.

The Role of Biomaterials in Insulin Delivery Systems

1980 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 299-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.D. Bruck
Keyword(s):  
Blood Glucose ◽  
Glucose Sensor ◽  
Insulin Delivery ◽  
The United States ◽  
Delivery Systems ◽  
Open Loop ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Glucose Levels ◽  
Blood Glucose Levels

The control of blood glucose levels in diabetes involving devices are critically reviewed, and the role of blood-contacting biomaterial components analyzed. These include mechanical insulin-delivery systems of the closed-loop type that require an electronic glucose sensor and feedback, and open-loop systems that deliver insulin without a sensor and feedback. Whole pancreatic and islet transplantations, islet encapsulation, and the potential role of polymeric sustained drug delivery systems are discussed. The medical and social impacts of diabetes mellitus are of prime public health concern and of even greater magnitude than those of heart disease in the United States. While future advances in device design, miniaturization, and biometrials technology will significantly add to the arsenal of therapeutic alternatives, devices capable of controlling blood glucose levels ought to be viewed as mere interim phases rather than as final goals of the problem.

scholarly journals The Behavioral Immune System Shapes Political Intuitions: Why and How Individual Differences in Disgust Sensitivity Underlie Opposition to Immigration

2017 ◽  
Vol 111 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
LENE AARØE ◽  
MICHAEL BANG PETERSEN ◽  
KEVIN ARCENEAUX
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Behavioral Immune System ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
First Time ◽  
Representative Samples

We present, test, and extend a theoretical framework that connects disgust, a powerful basic human emotion, to political attitudes through psychological mechanisms designed to protect humans from disease. These mechanisms work outside of conscious awareness, and in modern environments, they can motivate individuals to avoid intergroup contact by opposing immigration. We report a meta-analysis of previous tests in the psychological sciences and conduct, for the first time, a series of tests in nationally representative samples collected in the United States and Denmark that integrate the role of disgust and the behavioral immune system into established models of emotional processing and political attitude formation. In doing so, we offer an explanation for why peaceful integration and interaction between ethnic majority and minorities is so hard to achieve.

The Role of Glutamate in Anxiety and Related Disorders

CNS Spectrums ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 820-830 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernadette M. Cortese ◽  
K. Luan Phan
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Metabotropic Glutamate Receptors ◽  
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors ◽  
The United States ◽  
Current Treatment ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Fear Potentiated Startle ◽  
Fear And Anxiety

AbstractAnxiety, stress, and trauma-related disorders are a major public health concern in the United States. Drugs that target the γ-aminobutyric acid or serotonergic system, such as benzodiazepines and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, respectively, are the most widely prescribed treatments for these disorders. However, the role of glutamate in anxiety disorders is becoming more recognized with the belief that drugs that modulate glutamatergic function through either ionotropic or metabotropic glutamate receptors have the potential to improve the current treatment of these severe and disabling illnesses. Animal models of fear and anxiety have provided a method to study the role of glutamate in anxiety. This research has demonstrated that drugs that alter glutamate transmission have potential anxiolytic action for many different paradigms including fear-potentiated startle, punished responding, and the elevated plus maze. Human clinical drug trials have demonstrated the efficacy of glutamatergic drugs for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and social phobia. Recent data from magnetic resonance imaging studies provide an additional link between the glutamate system and anxiety. Collectively, the data suggest that future studies on the mechanism of and clinical efficacy of glutamatergic agents in anxiety disorders are appropriately warranted.

scholarly journals The Role of Microglia during West Nile Virus Infection of the Central Nervous System

Vaccines ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Stonedahl ◽  
Penny Clarke ◽  
Kenneth L. Tyler
Keyword(s):  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
West Nile Virus ◽  
Immune Cells ◽  
Neuronal Cell ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
West Nile ◽  
The Central Nervous System

Encephalitis resulting from viral infections is a major cause of hospitalization and death worldwide. West Nile Virus (WNV) is a substantial health concern as it is one of the leading causes of viral encephalitis in the United States today. WNV infiltrates the central nervous system (CNS), where it directly infects neurons and induces neuronal cell death, in part, via activation of caspase 3-mediated apoptosis. WNV infection also induces neuroinflammation characterized by activation of innate immune cells, including microglia and astrocytes, production of inflammatory cytokines, breakdown of the blood-brain barrier, and infiltration of peripheral leukocytes. Microglia are the resident immune cells of the brain and monitor the CNS for signs of injury or pathogens. Following infection with WNV, microglia exhibit a change in morphology consistent with activation and are associated with increased expression of proinflammatory cytokines. Recent research has focused on deciphering the role of microglia during WNV encephalitis. Microglia play a protective role during infections by limiting viral growth and reducing mortality in mice. However, it also appears that activated microglia are triggered by T cells to mediate synaptic elimination at late times during infection, which may contribute to long-term neurological deficits following a neuroinvasive WNV infection. This review will discuss the important role of microglia in the pathogenesis of a neuroinvasive WNV infection. Knowledge of the precise role of microglia during a WNV infection may lead to a greater ability to treat and manage WNV encephalitis.

Who Is Wary of User Design? The Role of Power-Distance Beliefs in Preference for User-Designed Products

2019 ◽  
Vol 83 (3) ◽  
pp. 91-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neeru Paharia ◽  
Vanitha Swaminathan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Power Distance ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Brand Preference ◽  
User Design ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
High Power Distance

This article evaluates when a user-design approach is and is not effective in strengthening brand preference. It specifically delves into the role of power-distance beliefs in influencing preferences for user-designed products and brands. The authors demonstrate that low-power-distance consumers prefer user-designed products to company-designed products, whereas this effect is attenuated or reversed for high-power-distance consumers. The authors find process evidence that both feelings of empowerment and values of expertise differentially mediate brand preferences depending on power-distance beliefs, thus extending prior research findings. Field experiments conducted in the United States and cross-culturally (Austria and Guatemala) with Facebook’s advertising platform provide convergent evidence using country and political orientation as managerially accessible proxies. This research sheds light on when and why firms should be wary of user-design approaches, based on how power-distance beliefs drive consumers’ preferences.

scholarly journals Why Do Conservatives Report Being Happier Than Liberals? The Contribution of Neuroticism

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlin M. Burton ◽  
Jason E. Plaks ◽  
Jordan B. Peterson
Keyword(s):  
Big Five ◽  
Satisfaction With Life ◽  
The United States ◽  
Demographic Variables ◽  
System Justification ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Big Five Traits ◽  
Group Memberships ◽  
Socioeconomic Status Group

Previous studies suggest that conservatives in the United States are happier than liberals. This difference has been attributed to factors including differences in socioeconomic status, group memberships, and system-justifying beliefs. We suggest that differences between liberals and conservatives in personality traits may provide an additional account for the "happiness gap". Specifically, we investigated the role of neuroticism (or conversely, emotional stability) in explaining the conservative-liberal happiness gap. In Study 1 (N = 619), we assessed the correlation between political orientation (PO) and satisfaction with life (SWL), controlling for the Big Five traits, religiosity, income, and demographic variables. Neuroticism, conscientiousness, and religiosity each accounted for the PO-SWL correlation. In Study 2 (N = 700), neuroticism, system justification beliefs, conscientiousness, and income each accounted for PO-SWL correlation. In both studies, neuroticism negatively correlated with conservatism. We suggest that individual differences in neuroticism represent a previously under-examined contributor to the SWL disparity between conservatives and liberals.

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