Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - HBIS (The Human Behavioral Immune System: Consequences for Health and Innovation)

Teaser

Infectious disease has been a problem for people across all of human history. But humans are not unique in this regard - infectious disease is a problem for ALL animals. Consequently, natural selection has lead to the evolution of many defenses against pathogens across many...

Summary

Infectious disease has been a problem for people across all of human history. But humans are not unique in this regard - infectious disease is a problem for ALL animals. Consequently, natural selection has lead to the evolution of many defenses against pathogens across many species - most notably, the immune systems that resist infections. The current project aims to uncover new information about the aspects of our minds that function to combat infectious disease. It seeks to better understand emotional responses to infectious disease (e.g., disgust); it aims to better understand the cognitive underpinnings of these responses (e.g., in terms of when and how our attention is grabbed by objects and people that might be infectious); it seeks to better understand how we learn about infectious disease (e.g., when we experience disgust when seeing or thinking about a food, and whether that impacts our desires to eat that food); and it seeks to better understand the genetic underpinnings of our behaviors that function to avoid infection. A better understanding these aspects of our psychology has broad-ranging implications. It can help us better understand psychopathologies (e.g., obsessions and compulsions regarding washing hands and cleaning objects), better understand how we learn to avoid foods, and better understand how we make healthy decisions.

Work performed

The project has measured anti-pathogen psychology (e.g., how easily people get disgusted by things that transmit pathogens) in thousands of twins. Results from this study will inform the degree to which variation in emotional responses to pathogens is shaped by genetic versus environmental factors. The project has also conducted multiple cross-sectional studies investigating how our anti-pathogen psychology relates to personality and ideological variables. Finally, the project has conducted multiple carefully controlled laboratory studies that have measured the early cognitive and physiological aspects of our pathogen-avoidance psychology. This work has been conducted by the principle investigator as well as three Ph.D. students, a research assistant, and a post-doctoral researcher.

Final results

The project has moved beyond the state of the art by integrating cognitive, personality, health, genetic, and evolutionary approaches to understanding our pathogen-avoidance psychology. Findings from the project have been disseminated via international, peer-reviewed journal publications and through research meetings at international conferences. Findings will continue to be disseminated in this fashion through the duration of the project.