The social impact of pathogen threat: How disease salience influences conformity

Bao-Pei, WU; Chang, Lei

doi:10.1016/j.paid.2012.02.023

Cited by 135 publications

(156 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…These results suggest that the societal implications of parasite stress (and the societal implications of famine) are distinct from the implications of other variables that might also affect individual fitness and mortality. This conclusion is consistent also with psychological evidence showing that, while other threats can also influence individuals' conformist and ethnocentric attitudes, the perceived threat of infectious disease has effects that are empirically unique and, often, especially powerful [13], [14], [21].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…At a psychological level of analysis, empirical evidence reveals that the subjective perception of infection risk causes individuals to be more conformist, to prefer conformity and obedience in others, to respond more negatively toward others who fail to conform, and to endorse more conservative socio-political attitudes [10], [11], [12], [13], [14]. At a societal level of analysis, empirical evidence reveals that in countries and cultures characterized by historically higher prevalence of parasitic diseases, people are less individualistic, exhibit lower levels of dispositional openness to new things, are more likely to conform to majority opinion, and more strongly endorse "binding" moral values that emphasize group loyalty, obedience, and respect for authority [15], [16], [17], [18], [19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pathogens and Politics: Further Evidence That Parasite Prevalence Predicts Authoritarianism

2013

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According to a "parasite stress" hypothesis, authoritarian governments are more likely to emerge in regions characterized by a high prevalence of disease-causing pathogens. Recent cross-national evidence is consistent with this hypothesis, but there are inferential limitations associated with that evidence. We report two studies that address some of these limitations, and provide further tests of the hypothesis. Study 1 revealed that parasite prevalence strongly predicted cross-national differences on measures assessing individuals' authoritarian personalities, and this effect statistically mediated the relationship between parasite prevalence and authoritarian governance. The mediation result is inconsistent with an alternative explanation for previous findings. To address further limitations associated with cross-national comparisons, Study 2 tested the parasite stress hypothesis on a sample of traditional small-scale societies (the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample). Results revealed that parasite prevalence predicted measures of authoritarian governance, and did so even when statistically controlling for other threats to human welfare. (One additional threat—famine—also uniquely predicted authoritarianism.) Together, these results further substantiate the parasite stress hypothesis of authoritarianism, and suggest that societal differences in authoritarian governance result, in part, from cultural differences in individuals' authoritarian personalities.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pathogens and Politics: Further Evidence That Parasite Prevalence Predicts Authoritarianism

2013

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“…Even at the turn of the century, Kurzban and Leary (2001) observed, "although parasites may play a critical role in the evolutionary process, they have received little attention in terms of their power to drive human psychological adaptations" (p. 197). However, more recently the implications of parasitic threat for human psychology have been demonstrated across several domains, including attention (Miller & Maner, 2012), emotion (Oaten, Stevenson, & Case, 2009), prejudice and person perception (e.g., Faulkner, Schaller, Park, & Duncan, 2004), conformity (Murray & Schaller, 2012;Wu & Chang, 2012), and interpersonal behavior in general (Mortensen, Becker, Ackerman, Neuberg, & Kenrick, 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, dispositionally germ-averse individuals report more restrictive sexual attitudes when the threat of disease is made immediately salient (Murray, Jones, & Schaller, 2013). Other laboratory experiments reveal higher behavioral and attitudinal conformity when the threat of disease is experimentally made salient (Murray & Schaller, 2012;Wu & Chang, 2012).…”

Section: Neurocognitive Processesmentioning

confidence: 94%

Ecological Threat and Psychological Variation

Murray

2014

PSYCHOLOGIA -An International Journal of Psychological Sciences

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Ecological threats impose substantial selective pressure throughout the animal kingdom, and drive the evolution of specific behavioral and social systems best suited for a given ecological niche. However, the specific role that ecological variables have played in the evolution of human behavior, cognition, and culture has only recently become a topic of rigorous empirical investigation. This paper considers the implications of one specific ecological variable-the threat of infectious disease-for individual behavior, cognition and, ultimately, the evolution of contemporary cultural differences. An emerging body of research conducted at multiple levels of analysis suggests that cross-cultural variation in the threat of disease may be responsible, at least in part, for cultural variation in personality, attitudes, and value systems. This psychological variation may also have downstream consequences for variation in institutions as well. Mechanisms that may account for these relationships and implications are discussed.

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“…Park et al 2007;Wu and Chang 2012). The questionnaire measures two internally consistent subscales; an eight-item Germ Aversion (GA) subscale measures emotional discomfort in situations where potential pathogen exposure is high, and a seven-item Perceived Infectability (PI) subscale measures belief about one's resistance to infection.…”

Section: Measurement Of Chronic Disease Concernmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Disease Vulnerability on Preferences for Self-Similar Scent

Muggleton

Fincher

2016

Evolutionary Psychological Science

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Humans possess disease avoidance mechanisms, which promote xenophobic attitudes under conditions of perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD). We investigate whether concerns about disease vulnerability influence attraction to olfactory cues of self-similarity. Participants donated a sample of their body odour, then completed a PVD questionnaire (subscales: germ aversion, perceived infectability; ). Told that they were rating strangers' odours, participants rated self, versus non-self, scent donations. Among women, attraction to self-scent was positively predicted by germ aversion (but not perceived infectability); surprisingly, men's ratings of self-scent were negatively associated with germ aversion. Priming with pathogenic cues did not influence scent preferences. This association between germ aversion and odour preference suggests that mere scent exposure can inform the receiver of the immunological similarity between self and sender, which can influence social responses (i.e. attraction to vs. avoidance of scent sender). We discuss these results, as well as implications for the study of intergroup biases.

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The social impact of pathogen threat: How disease salience influences conformity

Cited by 135 publications

References 31 publications

Pathogens and Politics: Further Evidence That Parasite Prevalence Predicts Authoritarianism

Pathogens and Politics: Further Evidence That Parasite Prevalence Predicts Authoritarianism

Ecological Threat and Psychological Variation

The Effects of Disease Vulnerability on Preferences for Self-Similar Scent

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