Disgust, rooted in human evolutionary history, serves as a vital defense mechanism against pathogens, manifesting in varied behaviors. This paper explores the intricate relationship between disgust...Show moreDisgust, rooted in human evolutionary history, serves as a vital defense mechanism against pathogens, manifesting in varied behaviors. This paper explores the intricate relationship between disgust and visual attention, employing the eye-tracking method. Drawing insights from primate studies, habituation, and human facial expressions, the research aims to address three key questions: Does gaze aversion occur in humans when exposed to disgusting stimuli, extending avoidance behavior into the visual domain? Do individuals exhibit prolonged attention to facial area, indicating a social imperative to assess the risk of pathogen contamination? How does gaze aversion change with repeated exposure to disgust-inducing stimuli? The study employs three conditions, including scenes of feces ingestion in the test condition, to assess total looking time. Results reveal significant gaze aversion towards feces as compared to control conditions, supporting the hypothesis of avoidance behavior. Participants displayed prolonged attention to faces during non-disgusting conditions, challenging assumptions about social necessity for risk assessment. Repeated exposure across trials to disgust-inducing stimuli did not significantly alter gaze behavior, highlighting the nuanced nature of responses to aversive stimuli. Discussion of the findings and implications are also addressed.Show less
This paper aims to understand the effects of depiction of coprophagy on people’s gaze direction and duration. This was done by conducting a within-participant experiment (n=10), in which...Show moreThis paper aims to understand the effects of depiction of coprophagy on people’s gaze direction and duration. This was done by conducting a within-participant experiment (n=10), in which participants were shown three different types of video that each corresponded to a condition whilst having their eye movements tracked. The test condition consisted of a video depicting coprophagy. The video of one of the control conditions showed a person eating a piece of bread, whereas the video of the other control condition showed a person resting and observing a piece of paper. Firstly, the paper hypothesized that when presented with repeated exposure to feces (the video of the test condition), people’s gaze would increasingly be drawn to the eyes of the actor in the video. The statistical analyses showed that although a slight increase in gaze duration was found, this was not significant. The second hypothesis was that when presented with repeated exposure to feces, people’s gaze duration toward the feces themselves would decrease. Again, a slight decrease was found, but this was not statistically significant. Lastly, the study hypothesized that gaze increase toward the eyes with repeated exposure would occur more in the test condition than in the control condition in which someone was eating a piece of bread. Although a larger increase was found in the test condition, this was not statistically significant. Further research using different methodologies and larger sample sizes may be needed to offer more insight on this area of evolutionary psychology.Show less
Background. The outbreak of COVID-19 at the end of 2019 has led to a rise in xenophobic attitudes – a fear that foreigners may be the source of the virus. One important mechanism involved in the...Show moreBackground. The outbreak of COVID-19 at the end of 2019 has led to a rise in xenophobic attitudes – a fear that foreigners may be the source of the virus. One important mechanism involved in the rise of xenophobic attitudes is the behavioural immune system, an evolutionary addition to our physiological immune system which helps us to proactively avoid sources of disease. This system mainly works via the emotion disgust and has been found to be influenced by one’s perceived vulnerability to disease. The present study investigated whether perceived vulnerability to disease moderates the association between disgust sensitivity and COVID-19 related xenophobic attitudes. Methods. The research question was investigated by administering three questionnaires to a convenience sample as part of a bigger online survey. Results. While disgust sensitivity was associated with xenophobic attitudes, perceived vulnerability to disease was not associated with xenophobic attitudes and also did not moderate the association between the other two variables (perceived infectibility*disgust sensitivity: b = , t = 1.23, with p = .219). Discussion. The non-significant moderation may be the result of habituation. While the behavioural immune system may respond particularly strong in a context where vulnerability to disease is high, this may change if a disease context is present for too long. In that case, the behavioural immune system may become habituated to the situation and may therefore no longer be influenced by one’s perceived vulnerability to disease. Accordingly, the present study adds a nuance to the existing literature on the behavioural immune system.Show less
