Behavioral Immune System: Its Psychological Bases and Functions

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Behavioral Immune System

scholarly journals Behavioral immune system activity predicts downregulation of chronic basal inflammation

PLoS ONE ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. e0203961 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Gassen ◽  
Marjorie L. Prokosch ◽  
Anastasia Makhanova ◽  
Micah J. Eimerbrink ◽  
Jordon D. White ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
System Activity ◽  
Behavioral Immune System

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.

scholarly journals The behavioral immune system: Current concerns and future directions

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. e12371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua M. Ackerman ◽  
Sarah E. Hill ◽  
Damian R. Murray
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Behavioral Immune System ◽  
Current Concerns

The Behavioral Immune System and Attitudes About Vaccines

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russ Clay
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Immune System ◽  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Public Health Research ◽  
Disgust Sensitivity ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Behavioral Immune System ◽  
The Future ◽  
Sources Of Contamination

The present research utilized evolutionary theory to examine the relation between the behavioral immune system (i.e., disgust sensitivity) and attitudes about vaccines. The findings from the studies suggest that higher levels of dispositional disgust sensitivity is predictive of more negative attitudes toward vaccines. These findings are consistent with several recent publications and thus have broad implications for public health research associated with vaccines. In Study 1, participants reporting higher dispositional disgust sensitivity (specifically, contamination disgust) tended to report more negative attitudes about vaccines. Study 2 replicated this result in a nonstudent sample using additional measures of disgust sensitivity more closely associated with aversion to perceived sources of contamination. Study 2 also revealed that beliefs about the likelihood of contracting illness in the future were unrelated to vaccine attitudes. Implications for the observed relation between intuitive aversion to contamination and vaccine attitudes are discussed.

Activation of the Behavioral Immune System: Putting the Brakes on Affiliation

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 224-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natsumi Sawada ◽  
Emilie Auger ◽  
John E. Lydon
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Attachment Style ◽  
Need To Belong ◽  
Affiliative Behavior ◽  
Behavioral Immune System ◽  
Avoidance Motivation ◽  
Sources Of Infection ◽  
Perceived Vulnerability To Disease ◽  
Zero Acquaintance

Evolutionary psychologists propose that humans evolved a first line of defense against pathogens: the behavioral immune system (BIS). The BIS is thought to be functionally flexible such that the likelihood and magnitude of BIS activation depends on the individual’s perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD). Because conspecifics are sources of infection, the BIS has implications for affiliation. By priming and measuring chronic levels of PVD, we examined PVD’s relation to affiliation in zero-acquaintance situations in the laboratory, online, and during speed-dating events. Elevated BIS activation was associated with decreased attraction and affiliative behavior in situations that varied in the trade-off between social reward and potential risk of infection. These results were not due to attachment style, personality traits, or disgust sensitivity. This suggests that in social interactions, approach motivation associated with the need to belong may be weighed against avoidance motivation associated with the need to protect the self from disease.

Sick Body, Vigilant Mind

2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 1467-1471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saul L. Miller ◽  
Jon K. Maner
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Behavioral Immune System ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
Interactive Nature ◽  
Biological Immune System ◽  
Recent Illness ◽  
Shed Light

Activation of the behavioral immune system has been shown to promote activation of the biological immune system. The current research tested the hypothesis that activation of the biological immune system (as a result of recent illness) promotes activation of the behavioral immune system. Participants who had recently been ill, and had therefore recently experienced activation of their biological immune system, displayed heightened attention to (Study 1) and avoidance of (Study 2) disfigured individuals—cognitive and behavioral processes reflecting activation of the behavioral immune system. These findings shed light on the interactive nature of biological and psychological mechanisms designed to help people overcome the threat of disease.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document