1-133 - Better Safe Than sorry! The Development of Disgust and Avoidance of Biological Threats in Humans and Non-human Primates

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Human survival faces a variety of environmental threats that require adaptive thinking to overcome. In order to be successful, humans must avoid falling ill, consuming toxic or dangerous substances, or spending time in dangerous environments. The research presented in this symposium demonstrates the development of human reasoning about disgust, contamination, and threat, and provides evidence that individual differences (i.e., disgust sensitivity) can influence children’s sensitivity to and reasoning about dangerous contexts.

The first paper (Wertz) provides evidence that human infants are sensitive to the potential dangers of plants, avoiding interacting with them early in life, and tests whether nonhuman primates demonstrate similar effects. The second paper (LoBue) examines the factors that determine whether young children will engage in adaptive behaviors when confronted with the possibility of getting sick. The third paper (DeJesus) investigates whether providing young children with information about contamination and social group membership influences children’s eating behavior. The fourth paper (Rottman) explores the relation between children’s trait disgust sensitivity and their children’s willingness to moralize novel environmental degradations.

Taken together, these findings provide important theoretical and practical insights regarding the development of disgust, contagion, and threat. These results suggests that threat-avoidance behaviors emerge in infancy, yet more detailed reasoning in this domain continues to develop throughout childhood. These findings also create opportunities for intervention in important public health and environmental concerns.

Sub Unit

• Social Cognition

Chair

• Jasmine DeJesus, University of Chicago

Individual Presentations

• Every Rose has its Thorn: Comparing Strategies That Minimize Dangers Posed by Plants in Human Infants and Non-human Primates - Presenting Author: Annie E Wertz, Max-Planck Institute for Human Developme

• Children’s Behavioral Avoidance of Contagion - Presenting Author: Vanessa LoBue, Rutgers University; Katy-Ann Blacker, Rutgers University - Campus at Newark; Megan Geerdts, Unc - Greensboro

• Social Influences on Children’s Reasoning About Clean and Contaminated Foods - Presenting Author: Jasmine DeJesus, University of Chicago; Kristin Shutts, UW-Madison; Katherine D. Kinzler, University of Chicago

• Testimony About Disgust Leads Children to Blame Acts of Environmental Degradation - Presenting Author: Josh Rottman, Boston University; Liane L. Young, Boston College; Deb Kelemen, Boston Univ