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 Multilingualism and Personal Health Benefits: Connecting the Dots

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed H. Al Aqad
Keyword(s):  
Health Benefits ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Stroke Recovery ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Cross Culture ◽  
New Research ◽  
Connecting The Dots ◽  
Multiple Languages ◽  
The Brain

Being multilingual is a valuable advantage in today’s global society, which is right at everyone’s doorstep. Language and the ability to communicate are important skills to possess. These skills are particularly useful for healthcare professionals because without effective communication, it is tricky to collect reliable information, inform patients of a diagnosis, and/or engage them in developing a management plan. This chapter discusses the connection between speaking several languages and speaker’s mind health. New research on multilingualism has impacted the author insight into the effect of learning and using two or more languages on cognition, the brain, and success and well-being across the lifetime in the last twenty years. The notion of learning various languages expose the linguistic and cognitive development in the community, the latest findings imply that people gain a swathe of health benefits, becoming more open to different languages and new learning in general. An old saying says, speaking more than one language inevitably means that one’s have access to more than one culture, the person tend to have a better understand of intercultural differences and the nuances of different subcultures within an entire culture. The finding of the study shows that knowing several languages support ones life style, boost to live longer and the speaker become a certain kind of personification of cultural dynamicity and cross-culture exchange. Consequently, multilingualism has a range of social, psychological, and lifestyle benefits. Furthermore, experts are discovering a slew of health benefits from learning multiple languages, including quicker stroke recovery and delayed dementia development.

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.

Situated Identities and Social Psychological Experimentation

Sociometry ◽  
1971 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 65 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Norman Alexander ◽  
Gordon W. Knight
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychological ◽  
Psychological Experimentation

scholarly journals Analysis of Interventions to Reduce Antigypsyism in Slovakia: A Social Psychology Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-136
Author(s):  
Lucia Hargašová ◽  
Barbara Lášticová ◽  
Xenia Daniela Poslon ◽  
Dóra Belán
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Analysis ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Intergroup Relations ◽  
Psychological Factors ◽  
Intergroup Attitudes ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Societal Norms ◽  
Psychology Perspective

Abstract Despite numerous efforts of Roma inclusion from various State and non-governmental organisations, segregation and socioeconomic marginalisation of the Roma is still widespread in Slovakia. In this paper, we show what social-psychological factors intervene into the process of intergroup relations change and how they can influence the effectiveness of interventions to reduce antigypsyism. We contend that establishing intergroup harmony between majority and minority may, by creating false assumptions about the absence of structural inequalities, weaken the potential for social change and minority collective action. Based on the theoretical analysis as well as the content analysis of anti-discrimination interventions carried out in the year 2018 and the thematic analysis of interviews with selected stakeholders (NGO representatives, intervention participants, sponsors) we identified four challenges that need to be tackled if the interventions are to succeed in reducing antigypsyism. These are: 1) essentializing vs. empowerment of minorities; 2) tension between the colourblind and multiculturalism approaches; 3) problem of intergroup boundaries and their consequences for generalization of positive intergroup attitudes to the whole outgroup; and 4) societal norms defining the nature of intergroup relations. We discuss how these challenges ought to be addressed in succesful anti-discrimination interventions.

scholarly journals Examining prevalence and diversity of tick-borne pathogens in questing Ixodes pacificus ticks in California.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Salkeld ◽  
Danielle M. Lagana ◽  
Julie Wachara ◽  
W. Tanner Porter ◽  
Nathan C. Nieto
Keyword(s):  
Lyme Disease ◽  
Reservoir Host ◽  
Infection Prevalence ◽  
Borrelia Miyamotoi ◽  
Ixodes Pacificus ◽  
Granulocytic Anaplasmosis ◽  
Pathogen Prevalence ◽  
Local Host ◽  
Host Ecology ◽  
Pathogen Occurrence

Tick-borne diseases in California include Lyme disease (caused by Borrelia burgdorferi), infections with Borrelia miyamotoi, and human granulocytic anaplasmosis (caused by Anaplasma phagocytophilum). We surveyed multiple sites and habitats (woodland, grassland, coastal chaparral) in California to describe spatial patterns of tick-borne pathogen prevalence in western black-legged ticks (Ixodes pacificus). We found that several species of Borrelia – B. burgdorferi, B. americana and B. bissettiae - were observed in habitats such as coastal chaparral that does not harbor obvious reservoir host candidates. Describing tick-borne pathogen prevalence is strongly influenced by the scale of surveillance: aggregating data from individual sites to match jurisdictional boundaries (e.g., county or state) can lower the reported infection prevalence. Considering multiple pathogen species in the same habitat allows a more cohesive interpretation of local pathogen occurrence. Importance Understanding the local host ecology and prevalence of zoonotic diseases is vital for public health. Using tick-borne diseases in California, we show that there is often a bias to our understanding and that studies tend to focus on particular habitats e.g., Lyme disease in oak woodlands. Other habitats may harbor a surprising diversity of tick-borne pathogens but have been neglected, e.g., coastal chaparral. Explaining pathogen prevalence requires descriptions of data at a local scale; otherwise, aggregating the data can misrepresent the local dynamics of tick-borne diseases.

Children's linguistic choices: Audience design and societal norms

1993 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Youssef
Keyword(s):  
Standard English ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Audience Design ◽  
Stylistic Variation ◽  
Personal Significance ◽  
Societal Norms ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Child Language Acquisition ◽  
Design Factors ◽  
English Verb

ABSTRACTTo reexamine the explanation of stylistic variation given by Bell 1984, this article considers Bell's audience design factors in relation to those associated with the domains described by Fishman 1972. Data collected longitudinally from three preschool children in the Trinidad sociolinguistic complex were examined for variation in production of Trinidad Creole and Standard English verb forms. All three children exhibited stylistic variation; but the nature of the variation shed further light on audience design, since audience factors sometimes remained constant, while speech patterns exhibited variation. It appears that the demands of the wider Trinidadian society (in particular for children), along with the education system, interact with familial demands to impose social/psychological constraints which impinge on and modify audience design. In addition, an implicational scaling of response to addressee, auditor, overhearer, and eavesdropper cannot be unequivocally adopted, since response to audience may vary according to the personal significance which individuals in a given setting have for the child-speaker. (Child language acquisition, creole studies, Trinidad)

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