Abstract
A large body of evidence demonstrating the shifts in attitudes and behavior towards threats of illness suggests that humans have evolved to detect and avoid sources of contagion, which Schaller (Psychological Inquiry, 17(2), 96–137, 2006) labeled the behavioral immune system. In the present study, subjects engaged in a reasoning task (the Wason selection task) in order to uncover possible sources of contagion or contaminated food. I predicted that the behavioral immune system would direct subjects to correct responses more often when reasoning about possible threats than when threats were absent in the scenarios. The results revealed a systematic increase in likelihood to reason correctly when threats of illness were present. This was true for both the threat of contagion and the threat of contaminated food. These findings suggest the behavioral immune system influences reasoning, possibly by directing attention to key elements in the reasoning scenario.
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Appendix A
Appendix A
Survey items and Likert scale for each sample:
Identify your agreement with the statements below using the following scale:
1 Disagree | 2 Somewhat disagree | 3 Neither agree nor disagree | 4 Somewhat agree | 5 Agree |
College Student Sample
_____ I get anxious when I am around a sick person.
_____ I do not worry about germs.
_____ I do not take the dates printed on foods seriously.
_____ I regularly do things to reduce my chances of getting sick.
_____ I will not eat food if it is a week old.
_____ I will eat food when I don’t know how fresh it is.
_____ I will get sick whether I try to prevent it or not.
_____ I worry about getting food poisoning frequently.
Mechanical Turk Sample
_____ I get anxious when I am around a sick person.
_____ I do not worry about germs.
_____ I do not take the dates printed on foods seriously.
_____ I go out of my way to avoid catching the flu.
_____ I will not eat leftovers if they are a week old.
_____ I will eat food even if I don’t know how fresh it is.
_____ I cannot do anything to prevent catching a cold.
_____ I worry about getting food poisoning when I cook.
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Taylor, J.P. Reasoning Improves in Response to Threats of Contagion and Food Contamination. Evolutionary Psychological Science 3, 201–211 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-017-0088-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-017-0088-6