The kiss of death: three tests of the relationship between disease threat and ritualized physical contact within traditional cultures

Murray, Damian R.; Fessler, Daniel M. T.; Kerry, Nicholas; White, Claire; Marin, Maya

doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2016.06.008

Cited by 62 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 64 publications

(65 reference statements)

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“…In contrast to recent work 27 , support for the mate assessment hypothesis in predicting cultural differences in kissing and intimacy was limited. We observed no relationships between historical pathogen prevalence and kissing, hugging or sex after correcting for multiple comparisons within a model, although (before alpha correction) pathogen prevalence and absolute poverty predicted hugging frequency in the expected direction (i.e.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 86%

National income inequality predicts cultural variation in mouth to mouth kissing

Watkins

Leongoméz

Bovet

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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Romantic mouth-to-mouth kissing is culturally widespread, although not a human universal, and may play a functional role in assessing partner health and maintaining long-term pair bonds. Use and appreciation of kissing may therefore vary according to whether the environment places a premium on good health and partner investment. Here, we test for cultural variation (13 countries from six continents) in these behaviours/attitudes according to national health (historical pathogen prevalence) and both absolute (GDP) and relative wealth (GINI). Our data reveal that kissing is valued more in established relationships than it is valued during courtship. Also, consistent with the pair bonding hypothesis of the function of romantic kissing, relative poverty (income inequality) predicts frequency of kissing across romantic relationships. When aggregated, the predicted relationship between income inequality and kissing frequency ( r = 0.67, BCa 95% CI[0.32,0.89]) was over five times the size of the null correlations between income inequality and frequency of hugging/cuddling and sex. As social complexity requires monitoring resource competition among large groups and predicts kissing prevalence in remote societies, this gesture may be important in the maintenance of long-term pair bonds in specific environments.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 86%

National income inequality predicts cultural variation in mouth to mouth kissing

Watkins

Leongoméz

Bovet

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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“…For example, research shows that disease threats are associated with greater conformity to social norms (Murray & Schaller, ; Wu & Chang, ) and higher levels of disgust—an emotion that motivates pathogen avoidance (Huang, Ackerman, & Newman, ; Oaten, Stevenson, & Case, ; Rozin, Haidt, & McCauley, ; Tybur et al, )—and predict greater sensitivity to moral violations (e.g., Horberg et al, ; Jones & Fitness, ; Murray, Kerry, & Gervais, ; Tybur, Lieberman, & Griskevicius, ; Wheatley & Haidt, ). At the cross‐cultural level of analysis, pathogen prevalence also predicts greater emphasis on moral and social norms (Murray et al, ; Van Leeuwen et al, ), including aversion to physical contact during culturally normative rituals (Murray, Fessler, Kerry, White, & Marin, ). Pathogen threat may even be at the root of many fundamental dimensions of culture, from individualism/collectivism (Fincher et al, ) to social and political orientation (Murray, Schaller, & Suedfeld, ; Terrizzi, Shook, & McDaniel, ; White et al, ) to religious belief (Fincher & Thornhill, , ).…”

Section: Influence Of the Behavioral Immune System On Social Psychologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A different pattern emerges in research studies employing other manipulations, however. For example, Murray and Schaller () and Murray, Kerry, and Gervais () had participants discuss at length the time in their life when they felt most vulnerable to disease‐causing bacteria and germs and, in doing so, partly controlled for individual differences in reactivity to specific disease cues. In both of these studies, main effects of experimental condition and dispositional worry about disease emerged (on sensitivity to normative and moral violations, respectively), but no interaction occurred between the two.…”

Section: Current Empirical Concernsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The behavioral immune system: Current concerns and future directions

Ackerman

Hill

Murray

2018

Social & Personality Psych

Self Cite

202

223

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The behavioral immune system is a motivational system that helps minimize infection risk by changing cognition, affect, and behavior in ways that promote pathogen avoidance. In the current paper, we review foundational concepts of the behavioral immune system and provide a brief summary of recent social psychological research on this topic. Next, we highlight current conceptual and empirical limitations of this work and delineate important questions that have the potential to drive major advances in the field. These questions include predicting the ontological development of the behavioral immune system, specifying the relationship between this system and the physiological immune system, and distinguishing conditions that elicit direct effects of situational pathogen threats versus effects that occur only in interaction with dispositional disease concerns. This discussion highlights significant challenges and underexplored topics to be addressed by the next generation of behavioral immune system research.

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“…Universality does not imply an absence of variation, though. Indeed, some evidence suggests that potentially infectious ritualized contact is less prevalent in areas with more infectious disease (Murray et al, 2017). Any signal value of contact and contact avoidance might similarly vary across regions as a function of ecological parasite stress, as might the degree to which interpersonal value influences motivations to embrace or avoid infection-risky contact.…”

Section: Implications For Understanding the Behavioral Immune Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral immune tradeoffs: Interpersonal value relaxes social pathogen avoidance

Tybur¹,

Lieberman²,

Fan³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Behavioral immune system research has illuminated how people detect and avoid signs of infectious disease. But how do we regulate exposure to pathogens that produce no symptoms in their hosts? This manuscript tests the proposition that estimates of interpersonal value are used for this task. Three studies (N = 1694), each conducted using U.S. samples, are consistent with this proposition: people are less averse to engaging in infection-risky acts not only with friends relative to foes, but also with honest and agreeable strangers relative to dishonest and disagreeable ones. Further, a continuous measure of how much a person values a target covaries with comfort with infection-risky acts with that target, even within relationship categories. Findings indicate that social prophylactic motivations arise not only from cues to infectiousness, but also interpersonal value. Consequently, pathogen transmission within social networks might be exacerbated by relaxed contamination aversions with highly valued social partners.

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The kiss of death: three tests of the relationship between disease threat and ritualized physical contact within traditional cultures

Cited by 62 publications

References 64 publications

National income inequality predicts cultural variation in mouth to mouth kissing

National income inequality predicts cultural variation in mouth to mouth kissing

The behavioral immune system: Current concerns and future directions

Behavioral immune tradeoffs: Interpersonal value relaxes social pathogen avoidance

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