Association between stereotypical perceptions of persons infected with COVID-19 and individual differences in behavioral immune system

Psychological Models ◽

Motivational Structure

In this chapter, we consider whether individual differences might play role in how a behavioral immune system operates and what that implies for human personality. We first highlight the theoretical reasons to expect variation in pathogen management mechanisms and the psychological models relevant to these mechanisms (e.g., behavioral immune system, disgust). Next, we review research on the direct impact of pathogen threats on specific personality attributes. Subsequently, we place relevant individual differences within a motivational structure in order to organize specific content domains of personality linked to pathogen threats. Finally, we propose some unanswered questions for the field that may be promising directions for future research.

Generalized or Origin-Specific Out-Group Prejudice?: The Role of Temporary and Chronic Pathogen-Avoidance Motivation in Intergroup Relations

Evolutionary Psychology ◽

10.1177/1474704919826851 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 147470491982685 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Tingting Ji ◽

Joshua M. Tybur ◽

Mark van Vugt

Keyword(s):

Immune System ◽

Individual Differences ◽

Disgust Sensitivity ◽

Total N ◽

Avoidance Motivation ◽

Negative Effect ◽

The Individual ◽

Meta Analyses ◽

Pathogen Avoidance

Researchers have proposed that intergroup prejudice is partially caused by behavioral immune system mechanisms. Across four studies (total N = 1,849), we used both experimental (pathogen priming) and individual differences (pathogen disgust sensitivity [PDS]) approaches to test whether the behavioral immune system influences prejudice toward immigrants indiscriminately (the generalized out-group prejudice hypothesis) or specifically toward immigrants from a pathogen-rich ecology (the origin-specific out-group prejudice hypothesis). Internal meta-analyses lend some support to both hypotheses. At the experimental level, pathogen primes had no effect on attitudes toward origin-unspecified immigrants or immigrants from a pathogen-rich ecology. At the individual differences level, PDS has a unique negative effect on comfort with immigrants from pathogen-rich ecologies but not on comfort with immigrants from unspecified ecologies. However, pathogen disgust sensitivity was negatively related to the decision to allow entry to both origin-unspecified immigrants and immigrants from a pathogen-rich ecology.

Individual Differences in the Behavioral Immune System and the Emergence of Cultural Systems

Social Psychology ◽

10.1027/1864-9335/a000118 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 43 (4) ◽

pp. 174-184 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Russ Clay ◽

John A. Terrizzi ◽

Natalie J. Shook

Keyword(s):

Immune System ◽

Individual Differences ◽

Cultural Variation ◽

Individual Level ◽

Domain Specific ◽

Psychological Mechanisms ◽

System A ◽

Cultural Systems ◽

Pathogen Prevalence

Cultural variation may be evoked through the interaction between domain-specific psychological mechanisms and environmental conditions (Gangestad, Haselton, & Buss, 2006 ). One such constellation of mechanisms is the behavioral immune system, a cluster of psychological processes evolved to promote disease-avoidance ( Schaller, 2006 ). Previous research demonstrated that higher levels of both historic and contemporary pathogen prevalence are predictive of collectivism across geopolitical regions ( Fincher, Thornhill, Murray, & Schaller, 2008 ). Across two studies, we demonstrate that individual differences in behavioral immune system reactivity (e.g., disgust sensitivity, germ aversion) are associated with variable endorsement of a vertical collectivist cultural orientation and differential value priorities, which are indicative of cultural differences. These findings provide support at an individual level for the proposition of evoked culture.

Behavioral Immune System: Its Psychological Bases and Functions

10.3389/978-2-88966-669-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Keyword(s):

Immune System ◽

Behavioral immune system activity predicts downregulation of chronic basal inflammation

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0203961 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 13 (9) ◽

pp. e0203961 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Jeffrey Gassen ◽

Marjorie L. Prokosch ◽

Anastasia Makhanova ◽

Micah J. Eimerbrink ◽

Jordon D. White ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Immune System ◽

System Activity ◽

PsychoBehavioroimmunology: Connecting the Behavioral Immune System to Its Physiological Foundations

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00200 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Damian R. Murray ◽

Marjorie L. Prokosch ◽

Zachary Airington

Keyword(s):

Immune System ◽

The behavioral immune system is designed to avoid infected individuals, not outgroups

Evolution and Human Behavior ◽

10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2017.12.003 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 39 (2) ◽

pp. 226-234 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Florian van Leeuwen ◽

Michael Bang Petersen

Keyword(s):

Immune System ◽

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

American Political Science Review ◽

10.1017/s0003055416000770 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 111 (2) ◽

pp. 277-294 ◽

Cited By ~ 55

Author(s):

LENE AARØE ◽

MICHAEL BANG PETERSEN ◽

KEVIN ARCENEAUX

Keyword(s):

Immune System ◽

Emotional Processing ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

The United States ◽

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.