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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Behavioral immune system | 2/3 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_immune_system | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T15:10:05.621127+00:00 | kb-cron |
== Influences on social psychology == Two social consequences of activating the behavioral immune system according to Ackerman et al., are "1. increased aversion and avoidance of unfamiliar and outgroup targets and 2. strengthened cohesion with familiar and ingroup targets."
=== Interpersonal perception === Interpersonal perception is influenced by the behavioral immune system due to the early stage cognitive processes recruited for identifying pathogenic threat and the risks associated with interpersonal contagion. Visual attention is one these early cognitive process recruited toward cues of pathogen threat and perceivers find it more difficult to visually disengage from faces possessing these cues, like physical abnormalities, even if no threat is present . The behavioral immune system may also cause people who perceive greater pathogen threat to report greater distinctions between ingroup and outgroup members, and classify strangers as more threatening.
=== Judgment and decision-making === Judgments, inferences, and decisions about people and objects are other cognitive processes recruited by the behavioral immune system that are affected by pathogen threat. These processes motivative choices that help perceivers avoid unfamiliar stimuli that may include contamination dangers. Examples of the influence perceived pathogen threat has on these processes include: avoidance of controllable risk, reduced desire for social affiliation, and devaluation of consumer products previously handled by strangers. Additional lines of research on the behavioral immune system have shown that people engage in more reticent and conservative forms of behavior under conditions in which they feel more vulnerable to disease transmission. For instance, when the potential threat of disease is made salient, people tend to be less extraverted or sociable.
=== Close relationships === The behavioral immune system influences potential mating choices and sexual behavior. High concern for chronic pathogen threats and environments with greater pathogen stress increase the value an individual places on physical attractiveness, and lessens preference for mates with physical abnormality or sex-divergent features. Among perceivers, cues of pathogen prevalence (real or perceived) are associated with more restricted sexual pursuits and attitudes to avoid infection. Opposite, more sexual opportunism is found in individuals with perceived insufficient immune systems for survival in environments with higher pathogen stress.
=== Stereotyping and prejudice ===
Another outcome of behavioral immune system activity is prejudice and stereotyping of outgroup members. Individuals at higher risk of pathogen infection are more likely to stigmatize other individuals possessing cues of disease, real or perceived. The disease–avoidant processes that characterize the behavioral immune system have been shown to contribute to prejudices against obese individuals, elderly individuals, and people with physical disfigurements or disabilities. In addition, the behavioral immune system appears to contribute to xenophobia and ethnocentrism. This can be seen among pregnant women, which face higher infection-related vulnerability, that express an increase ethnocentric views. These attitudes might function as a way to avoid people with new pathogens or practices that local practices are unsuited to manage. One implication is that these prejudices tend to be exaggerated under conditions in which people feel especially vulnerable to the potential transmission of infectious diseases.
=== Group processes and cultural norms === The behavioral immune system has the ability to impact group intragroup attitudes and behaviors. Research shows that pathogen stress is associated with higher social conformity and higher levels of disgust, which aids in pathogen avoidance and predictive of greater sensitivity to moral violations. Some studies have used the behavioral immune system to explain the root of more fundamental dimensions of culture including the variance in: individualism/collectivism, social and political orientation, and religious beliefs, in response to levels of pathogen stress. Collectivist cultures defined by behavioral manifestations such as ethnocentrism and social conformity which aid in pathogen avoidance, have been correlated with higher historical pathogen stress compared to individualistic cultures. Given that there might be benefits associated with individualistic cultures in the societies they create, individualist cultures also confer greater pathogen exposure. In environments with greater pathogen stress, the behavioral manifestations of collectivism that help avoid pathogens may serve an adaptive advantage.
=== Critiques of in-group preference === In-group preferences defined by the degree to which people prefer interacting with and investing in family, friends, and in group members has been suggested to be a function of the behavioral immune system in order to defend against pathogens. However, these studies on cross-population level data have been criticized for not incorporating non-independence variables and alternative hypotheses. In a follow up study, using measures the same measure for in-group preference, Hofstede's collectivism, Van de Vliert's in-group favoritism, and Fincher and Thornhill's strength of family ties, find that less government effectiveness is a better predictor of in-group preference than pathogen stress.
== Implications for immunology ==
=== Complimentary === Some research suggests that the behavioral immune system has implications for the functioning of the physiological immune system (PIS) too. One study found that the mere visual perception of diseased-looking people stimulated white blood cells to respond more aggressively to infection (as indicated by the production of the proinflammatory cytokine Interleukin 6 in response to a bacterial stimulus). In other studies, exposure to visual environmental pathogen cues, in addition to increased feelings of disgust and prejudice responses associated with the behavioral immune system (BIS), upregulate oral and blood immune inflammatory biomarkers. This body of literature suggests that visual cues connected to the BIS may invoke PIS responses when pathogen threat is immediate.