What Activates the Behavioral Immune System During a Global Pandemic? Testing the Disgust Calibration Hypothesis

Ackerman, J. M., Tybur, J. M., & Blackwell, A. D. (2021). What role does pathogen-avoidance psychology play in pandemics? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 25(3), 177–186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2020.11.008

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Al-Shawaf, L., Lewis, D. M. G., & Buss, D. M. (2018). Sex differences in disgust: Why are women more easily disgusted than men? Emotion Review, 10(2), 149–160. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073917709940

Article  Google Scholar 

Batres, C., & Perrett, D. I. (2020). Pathogen disgust sensitivity changes according to the perceived harshness of the environment. Cognition & Emotion, 34(2), 377–383. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2019.1612735

Article  Google Scholar 

Boggs, S. T., Ruisch, B. C., & Fazio R. H. (2022). Concern about salient pathogen threats increases sensitivity to disgust. Personality and Individual Differences, 186 (Part A). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.111348

Bradshaw, H., Gassen, J., Prokosch, M., Boehm, G., & Hill, S. (2022). Control over pathogen exposure and basal immunological activity influence disgust and pathogen-avoidance motivation. Cognition & Emotion, 36(4), 568–580. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2022.2031905

Article  Google Scholar 

Brake, C. A., Tipsword, J. M., & Badour, C. L. (2021). Mental contamination, disgust, and other negative emotions among survivors of sexual trauma: Results from a daily monitoring study. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 84, 102477. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2021.102477

Carr, P., Breese, E., Heath, C. J., & McMullan, R. (2022). The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on disgust sensitivity in a sample of UK adults. Frontiers in Public Health, 10, 1020850. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1020850

Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2021). Key Updates for Week 2, ending January 16, 2021. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/past-reports/01222021.html

Cepon-Robins, T. . J., Blackwell, A. . D., Gildner, T. . E., Liebert, M. . A., Urlacher, S. . S., Madimenos, F. . C., Eick, G. . N., Snodgrass, J. . J., & Sugiyama, L. . S. (2021). Pathogen disgust sensitivity protects against infection in a high pathogen environment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118(8), e2018552118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2018552118

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Clark, J. A., & Fessler, D. M. T. (2014). Recontextualizing the behavioral immune system within psychoneuroimmunology. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, 8(4), 235–243.

Article  Google Scholar 

Coifman, K. G., Disabato, D. J., Aurora, P., Seah, T., Mitchell, B., Simonovic, N., Foust, J. L., Sidney, P. G., Thompson, C. A., & Taber, J. M. (2021). What drives preventive health behavior during a global pandemic? Emotion and worry. Annals of Behavioral Medicine : A Publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, 55(8), 791–804. https://doi.org/10.1093/abm/kaab048

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Colarelli, S. M., Mirando, T. J., Han, K., Li, N. P., Vespi, C., Klein, K. A., & Fales, C. P. (2022). Responses to COVID-19 threats: An evolutionary psychological analysis. Evolutionary Psychological Science, 1–11. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-022-00348-7

Consedine, N. S. (2021). This is how we do it: Inductions, methods, and measurement in disgust research. In P. . A. Powell & N. . S. Consedine (Eds.), The handbook of disgust research: Modern perspective and applications (pp. 13–30). Springer Nature Switzerland AG. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84486-8_2

Chapter  Google Scholar 

Cox, R. . C., Jessup, S. . C., Luber, M. . J., & Olatunji, B. . O. (2020). Pre-pandemic disgust proneness predicts increased coronavirus anxiety and safety behaviors: Evidence for a diathesis-stress model. Journal of anxiety disorders, 76, 102315. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102315

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Cranford, J. A., Shrout, P. E., Iida, M., Rafaeli, E., Yip, T., & Bolger, N. (2006). A procedure for evaluating sensitivity to within-person change: Can mood measures in diary studies detect change reliably? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32(7), 917–929.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Cucinotta, D., & Vanelli, M. (2020). WHO Declares COVID-19 a Pandemic. Acta bio-medica : Atenei Parmensis, 91(1), 157–160. https://doi.org/10.23750/abm.v91i1.9397

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Curtis, V., & Biran, A. (2001). Dirt, disgust, and disease. Is hygiene in our genes? Perspectives in biology and medicine, 44(1), 17–31. https://doi.org/10.1353/pbm.2001.0001

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Díaz, R., & Cova, F. (2022). Reactance, morality, and disgust: The relationship between affective dispositions and compliance with official health recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cognition & Emotion, 36(1), 120–136. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2021.1941783

Article  Google Scholar 

Fessler, D. . M. (2002). Reproductive immunosupression and diet. An evolutionary perspective on pregnancy sickness and meat consumption. Current anthropology, 43(1), 19–61. https://doi.org/10.1086/324128

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Gassen, J., Nowak, T. J., Henderson, A. D., Weaver, S. P., Baker, E. J., & Muehlenbein, M. P. (2021). Unrealistic optimism and risk for COVID-19 disease. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 647461. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.647461

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Haidt, J., Rozin, P., McCauley, C., & Imada, S. (1997). Body, psyche, and culture: The relationship between disgust and morality. Psychology and Developing Societies, 9(1), 107–131. https://doi.org/10.1177/097133369700900105

Article  Google Scholar 

Harmon-Jones, C., Bastian, B., & Harmon-Jones, E. (2016). The Discrete Emotions Questionnaire: A new tool for measuring state self-reported emotions. PloS one, 11(8), e0159915. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159915

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Heeren, A., Bernstein, E. E., & McNally, R. J. (2018). Deconstructing trait anxiety: A network perspective. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 31(3), 262–276. https://doi.org/10.1080/10615806.2018.1439263

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Hlay, J. K., Albert, G., Batres, C., Richardson, G., Placek, C., Arnocky, S., Lieberman, D., & Hodges-Simeon, C. R. (2021). The evolution of disgust for pathogen detection and avoidance. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 13468. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-91712-3

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Jost, J. T. (2006). The end of the end of ideology. American Psychologist, 61(7), 651–670.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Kaňková, Š, Takács, L., Hlaváčová, J., Calda, P., Monk, C., & Havlíček, J. (2023). Disgust sensitivity in early pregnancy as a response to high pathogen risk. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1015927. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1015927

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Karinen, A. K., Molho, C., Kupfer, T. R., & Tybur, J. M. (2019). Disgust sensitivity and opposition to immigration: Does contact avoidance or resistance to foreign norms explain the relationship? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 84.

Klein, W. M. P., & Ferrer, R. A. (2018). On being more amenable to threatening risk messages concerning close others (vis-à-vis the Self). Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 44(10), 1411–1423. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167218769064

Article  Google Scholar 

Li, N. P., van Vugt, M., & Colarelli, S. M. (2018). The evolutionary mismatch hypothesis: Implications for psychological science. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 27(1), 38–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721417731378

Article  Google Scholar 

Lieberman, D., & Patrick, C. (2014). Are the behavioral immune system and pathogen disgust identical? Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, 8(4), 244–250.

Article  Google Scholar 

Liu, M., Zhang, X., He, Z., Liang, Y., Zou, B., Ma, X., Gu, S., & Wang, F. (2023). Opposite effects of estradiol and progesterone on woman’s disgust processing. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 14, 1161488. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1161488

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Liu, S., Lithopoulos, A., Zhang, C. . Q., Garcia-Barrera, M. . A., & Rhodes, R. . E. (2021). Personality and perceived stress during COVID-19 pandemic: Testing the mediating role of perceived threat and efficacy. Personality and individual differences, 168, 110351. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110351

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Marvel, S. W., House, J. S., Wheeler, M., Song, K., Zhou, Y. H., Wright, F. A., Chiu, W. A., Rusyn, I., Motsinger-Reif, A., & Reif, D. M. (2021). The COVID-19 Pandemic Vulnerability Index (PVI) Dashboard: Monitoring county-level vulnerability using visualization, statistical modeling, and machine learning. Environmental Health Perspectives, 129(1), 17701. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP8690

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Mermin-Bunnell, K., & Ahn, W. . K. (2022).  It’s Time to be disgusting about COVID-19: Effect of disgust priming on COVID-19 public health compliance among liberals and conservatives. PloS one, 17(5), e0267735. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0267735

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Miłkowska, K., Galbarczyk, A., Mijas, M., & Jasienska, G. (2021). Disgust sensitivity among women during the COVID-19 outbreak. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 622634. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.622634

Mitchell & Coifman (Under Review). Disgusted, but amused: Positive emotion attenuates disgust reactivity in response to disgusting film clips.

Molho, C., Tybur, J. M., Güler, E., Balliet, D., & Hofmann, W. (2017). Disgust and anger relate to different aggressive responses to moral violations. Psychological Science, 28(5), 609–619. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797617692000

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Murray, D. R., Prokosch, M. L., & Airington, Z. (2019). PsychoBehavioroimmunology: Connecting the behavioral immune system to its physiological foundations. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 200. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00200

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Nesse, R. M. (2001). The smoke detector principle. Natural selection and the regulation of defensive responses. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 935, 75–85.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Norton, J. O., Evans, K. C., Semchenko, A. Y., Al-Shawaf, L., & Lewis, D. M. G. (2021). Why do people (not) engage in social distancing? Proximate and ultimate analyses of norm-following during the COVID-19 pandemic. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 648206. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.648206

Nylocks, K. M., Rafaeli, E., Bar-Kalifa, E., Flynn, J. J., & Coifman, K. G. (2019). Testing the influence of negative and positive emotion on future health-promoting behaviors in a community sample. Motivation and Emotion, 43(2), 285–298. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-018-9729-8

Article  Google Scholar 

O’Shea, B. A., Vitriol, J. A., Federico, C. M., Appleby, J., & Williams, A. L. (2021). Exposure and aversion to human transmissible diseases predict conservative ideological and partisan preferences. Political Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12741. Advance online publication.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Oaten, M., Stevenson, R. J., & Case, T. I. (2009). Disgust as a disease-avoidance mechanism. Psychological Bulletin, 135(2), 303–321. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014823

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Pellegrino, R., Crandall, P. G., & Seo, H. S. (2016). Using olfaction and unpleasant reminders to reduce the intention-behavior gap in hand washing. Scientific Reports, 6, 18890. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep18890

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Porzig-Drummond, R., Stevenson, R., Case, T., & Oaten, M. (2009). Can the emotion of disgust be harnessed to promote hand hygiene? Experimental and field-based tests. Social Science & Medicine (1982), 68(6), 1006–1012. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.01.013

Rafaeli, E., Rogers, G. M., & Revelle, W. (2007). Affective synchrony: individual differences in mixed emotions. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 33(7), 915–932. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167207301009

Article  Google Scholar 

Reynolds, L. M., McCambridge, S. A., Bissett, I. P., & Consedine, N. S. (2014). Trait and state disgust: An experimental investigation of disgust and avoidance in colorectal cancer decision scenarios. Health Psychology, 33(12), 1495–1506. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000023

Comments (0)

No login
gif