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Cited by 403Death Anxiety and Social ExclusionEvolutionary Psychology and Human BehaviorPsychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment

Infection Breeds Reticence: The Effects of Disease Salience on Self-Perceptions of Personality and Behavioral Avoidance Tendencies

Mortensen, Chad R., Becker, D. Vaughn, Ackerman, Joshua M., Neuberg, Steven L., Kenrick, Douglas T.·2010·Psychological Science
DOI 10.1177/0956797610361706
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Abstract

Social living brings humans great rewards, but also associated dangers, such as increased risk of infection from others. Although the body's immune system is integral to combating disease, it is physiologically costly. Less costly are evolved mechanisms for promoting avoidance of people who are potentially infectious, such as perceiving oneself as less social and increasing the tendency to make avoidant movements. In Experiment 1, exposure to a disease prime led participants to rate themselves as less extraverted than did exposure to a control prime, and led participants high in perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD) to rate themselves as less agreeable and less open to experience than did exposure to a control prime. In Experiment 2, a disease prime facilitated avoidant tendencies in arm movements when participants viewed photographs of faces, especially for participants high in PVD. Together, these findings reveal functional changes in perception and behavior that would serve to promote avoidance of potentially infectious individuals.

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Crossref · 10.1177/0956797610361706

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45 of 45 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • Subjects with high scores on perceived vulnerability to disease showed greater feelings of interpersonal avoidance than did subjects with low scores on the same scale.

    “These researchers also found that subjects with high scores on perceived vulnerability to disease showed greater feelings of interpersonal avoidance than did subjects with low scores on the same scale.”

    From Parasite-stress promotes in-group assortative sociality: The cases of strong family ties and heightened religiosity (2012) · cites this paper as Mortensen et al. 2010

  • Subjects viewing slides with disease-salient cues immediately exhibited greater feelings promoting between-person avoidance (reduced extraversion and openness to experiences) in comparison to these subjects' feelings upon viewing control slides.

    “Mortensen et al. (2010) reports that subjects viewing slides with disease-salient cues immediately exhibited greater feelings promoting between-person avoidance (reduced extraversion and openness to experiences) in comparison to these subjects' feelings upon viewing control slides.”

    From Parasite-stress promotes in-group assortative sociality: The cases of strong family ties and heightened religiosity (2012) · cites this paper as Mortensen et al. 2010

  • Viewing parasite-salient slides resulted in increased avoidant arm movements when subjects viewed facial photos of strangers, especially for subjects high in perceived vulnerability to disease.

    “viewing parasitesalient slides resulted in increased avoidant arm movements when subjects viewed facial photos of strangers, especially for subjects high in perceived vulnerability to disease.”

    From Parasite-stress promotes in-group assortative sociality: The cases of strong family ties and heightened religiosity (2012) · cites this paper as Mortensen et al. 2010

  • F&T address this limitation by noting experimental research in which viewing cues to disease salience affected behavior in ways predicted by their parasite-stress theory, whereas viewing control images did not.

    “F&T address this limitation of correlational studies by noting experimental research in which viewing cues to disease salience affected behavior in ways predicted by their parasite-stress theory of social behavior, whereas viewing control images did not (e.g., Mortensen et al. 2010).”

    From Parasite-stress promotes in-group assortative sociality: The cases of strong family ties and heightened religiosity (2012) · cites this paper as Mortensen et al. 2010

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Authors
Mortensen, C. R., Becker, D. V., Ackerman, J. M., Neuberg, S. L., & Kenrick, D. T.
Affiliations
  • Arizona State University (US)
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
Corresponding author
Mortensen, Chad R.
ORCID
Venue
Psychological Science
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2010-02-05
Volume
21
Issue
3
Pages
440-447
ISSN
  • 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
  • 1467-9280
DOI
10.1177/0956797610361706
OpenAlex
W2165533603
Cited by
403
References
45
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 27 · 2022: 41 · 2021: 63 · 2020: 46 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 25 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 27 · 2013: 25 · 2012: 19
FWCI
28.42
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
  • Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH064734, MH064734)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
Keywords
disease avoidance, infection risk, perceived vulnerability to disease, self-perception, extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience, avoidance behavior, arm movement, face perception, social avoidance
MeSH terms
Attitude to Health, Avoidance Learning, Character, Cues, Defense Mechanisms, Extraversion, Psychological, Female, Humans, Infections, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Pattern Recognition, Visual, Personality Inventory, Psychomotor Performance, Reaction Time, Self Concept

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