The Behavioral Immune System: Taking Stock and Charting New Directions
Recent years have seen a rapid expansion in research on the behavioral immune system – that is, psychological adaptations that are specialized for neutralizing and avoiding pathogens. The work has been featured in many top journals, and has touched upon an impressive range of phenomena, from reactions to food to mate preferences to ethnocentrism.
As this area of research has developed into a sizable literature, the perspectives and approaches therein have themselves begun to diversify and evolve. This has in turn given rise to debates and disagreements regarding both the theory and methods that form the basis of such work.
In response to this situation, Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences has recently published a special issue on the behavioral immune system, centered on a forum in which leaders on the subject could "take stock" of the current literature and highlight areas of ambiguity or disagreement, as well as identify new directions that have yet to be explored, or "chart new directions." The heart of the forum consists of seven semi-formal short essays, each of which addresses a particular question or issue.
These are organized into four topically-focused discussions:
- circumscribing the behavioral immune system
- affect and cognition
- implications for societal dynamics
- methodology and theory
These are followed by a response by Steven Neuberg (2014) (PDF, 109KB)opens in new window that collectively summarizes the essays, highlighting the most promising ideas therein; and are preceded by an introduction by the co-editors, Joshua M. Tybur and Dan O'Brienopens in new window (2014). The issue also features two new empirical pieces on the behavioral immune system.
On the whole, the goal of the forum was to be both engaging and thought-provoking and to not only summarize the field, but also to foster and stimulate new research. The issue is a must-read for anyone interested in how pathogens have shaped human behavior over the course of our evolutionary history.
To give readers a fuller taste of the forum and the special issue it appears in, we have released for open access the editorial by Tybur & O'Brien and the response by Neuberg.
Citations:
- Neuberg, S. L. (2014). Contention, consensus, and the behavioral immune system: From the forum forward. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, 8(4), 284–288. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ebs0000026
- Tybur, J. M., & O'Brien, D. (2014). The behavioral immune system: Taking stock and charting new directions. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, 8(4), 223–225. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ebs0000025
View the special issue table of contents
Note: This article is in the Social Psychology & Social Processes topic area. View more articles in the Social Psychology & Social Processes topic area.