Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Peter Carr, Emily Breese, Christopher J. Heath, Rachel McMullan
Summary: The study found that the COVID-19 pandemic did not significantly impact individuals' pathogen disgust sensitivity, suggesting that disgust sensitivity is stable across the population.
FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Tara J. Cepon-Robins, Aaron D. Blackwell, Theresa E. Gildner, Melissa A. Liebert, Samuel S. Urlacher, Felicia C. Madimenos, Geeta N. Eick, J. Josh Snodgrass, Lawrence S. Sugiyama
Summary: The study examines the role of pathogen disgust sensitivity in disease avoidance, its environmental calibration and socioecological variation by analyzing associations with market-related lifestyle factors and measures of infection at different levels. The findings support the hypothesis that pathogen disgust sensitivity is negatively associated with infection, highlighting the importance of evolved psychological mechanisms in human health outcomes.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Sebastiaan Gorissen, Helen M. Lillie, Daniel Chavez-Yenter, Alexis Vega, Kevin K. John, Jakob D. Jensen
Summary: Communicating sexual health risks is challenging due to potential negative reactions to explicit language from the target audience. This study found that using high levels of explicit language in messages increased perceived disgust and indirectly influenced intentions to engage in safe sex behavior. Individual difference variables moderated the impact of message explicitness, with individuals who had lower levels of disgust being more positively influenced by explicit language.
SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Dongfang Chen, Siwei Zhang, Qi Wu, Menghao Ren
Summary: Among different tastes, the preference for spiciness is common globally, but its psychological effects have received little attention. Research shows that spicy food preference positively predicts sensitivity to facial expressions of anger and disgust, mediated by trait aggression and pathogen avoidance. Consuming spicy food increases state aggression and enhances perception of angry expressions. These findings deepen our understanding of the emotion perception process and its relationship with our mind and body, with great implications for the food industry and policymakers.
CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Experimental
Hannah Bradshaw, Jeff Gassen, Marjorie Prokosch, Gary Boehm, Sarah Hill
Summary: This research provides new insights into the role of one's control over pathogen exposure in influencing disgust sensitivity and immune system activity, contributing to the literature on disgust, pathogen avoidance, and the immune system.
COGNITION & EMOTION
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Social
Florian van Leeuwen, Bastian Jaeger, Willem W. A. Sleegers, Michael Bang Petersen
Summary: By conforming to ingroup norms, individuals coordinate with other group members, preserve cohesion, and avoid costs of exclusion. Previous experiments have shown that increased concerns about infectious disease increase conformity. However, coordination with other group members has multiple benefits, most of which exist independent of pathogenic infection. Hence, a strong causal effect of pathogen avoidance motivations on conformity seems unlikely. Results from five experiments (N = 1,931) showed only limited support for the hypothesis that experimentally increasing pathogen avoidance motivations influences conformity. Overall, our findings are not consistent with the notion that the human mind contains a fast-acting psychological mechanism that regulates conformity as a function of short-term pathogen avoidance motivations.
PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Social
Florian van Leeuwen, Lene Aaroe, Michael Bang Petersen, Kim Mannemar Sonderskov
Summary: Individuals with higher motivation to avoid pathogens are more likely to oppose immigrants. The lack of familiarity with ethnic outgroups leads to perceiving them as a potential infection risk and opposing immigration. Exposure to immigrants does not weaken the relationship between pathogen avoidance motivation and opposition to immigration, indicating that long-term exposure to ethnic outgroups is insufficient to alleviate concerns about pathogenic threats.
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PERSONALITY SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Biological
Anastasia Makhanova, E. Ashby Plant, Alexandra B. Ketterman, Jon K. Maner
Summary: Infection by parasites, bacteria, and other microorganisms has been a powerful selection pressure faced by humans and other species. Avoiding pathogens plays an important role in human evolution and contemporary social psychological processes. This study tested the hypothesis that pathogen avoidance promotes intergroup prejudice, but the results did not support this hypothesis in the absence of cultural stereotypes.
EVOLUTION AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Martin Kavaliers, Indra R. Bishnoi, Klaus-Peter Ossenkopp, Elena Choleris
Summary: Despite previous speculation on the involvement of progesterone in mediating pathogen disgust in women, a study on female mice found that acute progesterone did not significantly affect their disgust-like avoidance responses to pathogen threat. Instead, progesterone appeared to influence social recognition and preferences in the mice.
HORMONES AND BEHAVIOR
(2021)
Review
Ecology
Cecile Sarabian, Anna Wilkinson, Marie Sigaud, Fumihiro Kano, Jorge Tobajas, Anne-Sophie Darmaillacq, Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, Joshua M. Plotnik, Andrew J. J. MacIntosh
Summary: Disgust is an adaptive system that has evolved to reduce the risk of becoming sick. Little is known about disease avoidance mechanisms and outcomes in wild animals. Contemporary methods in animal ecology provide a flexible toolbox for testing disgust in different habitats. This review proposes an empirical framework for testing the adaptive function of disgust and its associated disease avoidance behaviors across species.
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Biological
Jessica K. Hlay, Graham Albert, Carlota Batres, Katja Waldron, George Richardson, Caitlyn Placek, Steven Arnocky, Zeynep Senveli, Debra Lieberman, Carolyn R. Hodges-Simeon
Summary: Restricted sociosexuality may serve as a pathogen avoidance technique. Sexual disgust and pathogen disgust had opposing effects on composite sociosexuality, with behavior being largely driven by psychological facets of sociosexuality.
EVOLUTION AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Paola Bressan
Summary: The study found that the behavioral immune system in humans targets unfamiliar individuals more than familiar ones, with the health condition and comfort of contact with a stranger being directly related to his similarity to the local community. This suggests that cues of outgroupness are processed as cues of infectiousness.
Article
Psychology, Social
Rose Meleady, Gordon Hodson, Megan Earle
Summary: Recent research suggests that individual differences in disgust sensitivity and intergroup disgust sensitivity predict distance between outgroups, especially in regions with high pathogen stress. Subjective perceptions of pathogen prevalence can also predict outgroup avoidance, even in areas with lower infection rates. These findings provide important insights into positive intergroup relations during pandemics.
PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
(2021)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Paola Bressan
Summary: First impressions of strangers are largely influenced by the perceived health of their faces, as well as one's own inclination to feel disgusted by pathogens. Negative and positive impressions reflect the expected costs and benefits of interacting with others, showing that pathogens play a significant role in shaping initial perceptions.
EVOLUTION MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Social
Farid Pazhoohi, Francesca Capozzi, Alan Kingstone
Summary: Previous research has neglected the preference for romantic partners of physically disabled individuals. This experimental study found that women rate physically disabled men as more attractive as romantic partners, while men rate physically disabled women less attractive. Additionally, disgust sensitivity was not associated with prejudicial attitudes towards physically disabled individuals.
PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jose Luis Gomez-Melara, Rufino Acosta-Naranjo, Alba Castellano-Navarro, Victor Beltran Frances, Alvaro Lopez Caicoya, Andrew J. J. MacIntosh, Risma Illa Maulany, Putu Oka Ngakan, Federica Amici
Summary: Rank predicts access to food in several species, with subordinates relying on specific tactics to get a share of resources. More despotic species have subordinates more likely to use specific food retrieval tactics, such as collecting food when dominants cannot see it, attacking others, dissimulating, or storing food. This study provides insights into the social conditions that lead to the emergence of tactical deception.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Alba Castellano-Navarro, Emilio Macanas-Martinez, Zhihong Xu, Federico Guillen-Salazar, Andrew J. J. MacIntosh, Federica Amici, Anna Albiach-Serrano
Summary: Japanese macaques can respond flexibly to human gaze depending on the context, interpreting direct gaze as a sign of threat and adapting behavior to attentional cues. They do not seem to take the visual perspective of a human competing with them over food, suggesting potential limitations in their understanding of intentions in competitive situations.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Parasitology
Liesbeth Frias, Hideo Hasegawa, Tock H. Chua, Symphorosa Sipangkui, Danica J. Stark, Milena Salgado-Lynn, Benoit Goossens, Kenneth Keuk, Munehiro Okamoto, Andrew J. J. MacIntosh
Summary: Parasites play important roles in ecosystems, but their complex interactions and roles remain poorly understood. This study in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, found that parasite communities differ between nocturnal and diurnal primates, with soil-transmitted helminths being widespread. The findings provide new insights into parasite diversity in primate communities and highlight the need for further research in Asia and beyond.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR PARASITOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Marion Cheron, Lea Raoelison, Akiko Kato, Yan Ropert-Coudert, Xavier Meyer, Andrew J. J. MacIntosh, Francois Brischoux
Summary: The study found that locomotion and behavior of spined toad tadpoles undergo significant changes across developmental stages, showing a curvilinear relationship with a phase of increasing activity followed by a phase of stasis and/or reduction. The peak of activity and associated behavior occurs at a pivotal stage when somatic growth decreases and significant morphological changes occur.
BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY
(2021)
Article
Zoology
Luca Morino, Cristian Pasquaretta, Cedric Sueur, Andrew J. J. MacIntosh
Summary: Research on wild siamangs demonstrates that changes in group composition can affect calling rates and communication network structure, possibly because listening individuals utilize public information to detect social instability. These findings help explain some sociobiological conundrums surrounding siamangs and offer insights applicable to other taxa such as birds and cetaceans.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Valeria Romano, Cedric Sueur, Andrew J. J. MacIntosh
Summary: Social structure plays a crucial role in regulating information and pathogen transmission through social contact or proximity, which can impact individual fitness. Individuals navigate between the costs and benefits of social relationships, leading to network plasticity. Further research on the tradeoff between social transmission and evolutionary processes could open new avenues in the fields of behavioral and evolutionary ecology.
Article
Zoology
Alba Castellano-Navarro, Victor Beltran Frances, Anna Albiach-Serrano, Andrew J. J. MacIntosh, Risma Illa Maulany, Putu O. Ngakan, Katja Liebal, Federica Amici
Summary: This study aimed to assess how dominance style predicts changes in maternal behavior through offspring development, and the link between maternal behavior and offspring behavior. The results showed that different species of macaques exhibited variations in maternal behavior, which may play an important role in shaping offspring's behavioral development.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Marion Cheron, Akiko Kato, Yan Ropert-Coudert, Xavier Meyer, Andrew J. J. MacIntosh, Lea Raoelison, Francois Brischoux
Summary: Environmental contamination is a significant driver of biodiversity loss, with wetlands being particularly vulnerable. This study investigated the effects of exposure to an herbicide on the development and behavior of spined toad tadpoles, finding that even low concentrations had significant impacts.
AQUATIC TOXICOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Mathematics, Interdisciplinary Applications
B. E. N. J. A. M. I. N. Beltzung, L. I. S. O. N. Martinet, Andrew J. J. Macintosh, X. A. V. I. E. R. Meyer, Jerome Hosselet, M. A. R. I. E. Pele, C. E. D. R. I. C. Sueur
Summary: This study investigates the drawing behavior by analyzing the intermittent process between drawing and interruption. Finger-drawings on a touchscreen were collected from 185 individuals, and the complexity of each drawing sequence was measured to assess how it develops with age. The results show that younger children draw in a more stereotypical way with long-range dependence, while older children and adults exhibit increased complexity and less predictable behavior in their drawings.
FRACTALS-COMPLEX GEOMETRY PATTERNS AND SCALING IN NATURE AND SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Zhihong Xu, Andrew J. J. MacIntosh, Alba Castellano-Navarro, Emilio Macanas-Martinez, Takafumi Suzumura, Julie Duboscq
Summary: This study found a relationship between social network centrality and gastrointestinal helminth infection intensity in a group of Japanese macaques, but also showed that excluding portions of the group could influence this relationship. The study highlights the importance of accounting for sampling bias in research on social transmission and parasitism.
Review
Ecology
Cecile Sarabian, Anna Wilkinson, Marie Sigaud, Fumihiro Kano, Jorge Tobajas, Anne-Sophie Darmaillacq, Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, Joshua M. Plotnik, Andrew J. J. MacIntosh
Summary: Disgust is an adaptive system that has evolved to reduce the risk of becoming sick. Little is known about disease avoidance mechanisms and outcomes in wild animals. Contemporary methods in animal ecology provide a flexible toolbox for testing disgust in different habitats. This review proposes an empirical framework for testing the adaptive function of disgust and its associated disease avoidance behaviors across species.
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Zoology
Wanyi Lee, Takashi Hayakawa, Mieko Kiyono, Naoto Yamabata, Hiroto Enari, Haruka S. Enari, Shiho Fujita, Tatsuro Kawazoe, Takayuki Asai, Toru Oi, Takashi Kondo, Takeharu Uno, Kentaro Seki, Masaki Shimada, Yamato Tsuji, Abdullah Langgeng, Andrew Macintosh, Katsuya Suzuki, Kazunori Yamada, Kenji Onishi, Masataka Ueno, Kentaro Kubo, Goro Hanya
Summary: This study investigates the influence of host genetic distance, geographic distance, and dietary factors on the gut microbiome of Japanese macaques. The results suggest that dietary factors play a stronger role in shaping the gut microbiome, while host genetics have limited effects, especially among closely related mammalian hosts.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Raquel F. P. Costa, Valeria Romano, Andre S. Pereira, Jordan D. A. Hart, Andrew MacIntosh, Misato Hayashi
Summary: Gorilla tourism helps protect the ecosystem and benefits both humans and wildlife populations. A study was conducted to assess how the presence and proximity of tourists affect gorilla social cohesion. The study found that gorillas spent more time in closer association after tourists arrived and when tourists were within 3 meters of them, indicating that they perceive tourists as a risk.
CONSERVATION SCIENCE AND PRACTICE
(2023)
Article
Biology
Valeria Romano, Amy Lussiana, Katy M. Monteith, Andrew J. J. MacIntosh, Pedro F. Vale
Summary: This study investigates the modification of group social behavior during bacterial infection in fruit flies, taking into account pathogen species, infectious dose, host genetic background, and sex. The results show that systemic infection with different bacterial species leads to a reduction in the mean pairwise distance within infected female flies, with the extent of this change depending on the pathogen species. However, susceptible flies do not exhibit avoidance behavior in the presence of infected flies. Additionally, there is genetic- and sex-based variation in social aggregation within infected, same-sex groups, with infected female flies aggregating more closely than infected males. These findings highlight the importance of considering the effects of bacterial infection on fruit fly behavior and the variation that exists between different genetic backgrounds and sexes.
Article
Anthropology
Ian Towle, Andrew J. J. MacIntosh, Kazuha Hirata, Mugino O. Kubo, Carolina Loch
Summary: This study examined atypical tooth wear in a wild Japanese macaque population and compared it to non-provisioned populations. The results showed that all individuals analyzed exhibited atypical tooth wear, which is likely caused by accidental ingestion of sand and oral processing of marine mollusks. No evidence of tool use or cultural habits was observed.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
(2022)