Doctoral Dissertation Research: Ontogenetic and environmental origins of pathogen disgust sensitivity

博士论文研究：病原体厌恶敏感性的个体发生和环境起源

• 批准号: 2149052
• 负责人: Carolyn Hodges-Simeon
• 金额: $ 2.51万
• 依托单位: Trustees of Boston University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-05-01 至 2024-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2149052&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Ontogenetic; environmental

It has long been proposed that the emotion of disgust helps humans avoid illness. However, levels of disgust, also called disgust sensitivity, can vary greatly among different individuals, which has implications for their behavior. In particular, research suggests that people higher in disgust sensitivity are more motivated to avoid certain objects, situations, and people. This doctoral research project investigates the broad question: why do people vary in their disgust sensitivity? One framework suggests that differences in the childhood environment may lead to differences in adult disgust sensitivity. This project is among the first to measure disgust sensitivity across a wide range of childhood ages to understand how disgust changes throughout growth and development. The researchers also examine cultural, individual, and environmental variables that may explain differences between individuals in their disgust sensitivity. These findings may be useful to health and education initiatives that focus on reducing infection risk and mitigating the progression of pandemics. Such initiatives will be aided by understanding when, why, and how children are motivated to avoid infection, and how this may vary across individuals and groups.Infectious disease has been a longstanding feature of human societies. As a result, humans have seemingly developed cultural and biological strategies to avoid infectious exposure. Pathogen disgust sensitivity is proposed as one of the core motivational triggers to initiate avoidant behavior, yet little research has investigated how it develops during childhood or what explains variation among individuals. This project examines variables such as inflammation, energy budget, control over pathogen exposure, social learning, and gender, that may account for variation in pathogen disgust sensitivity across childhood. The researchers collect these variables using self-report and physiological measures among children 6 to 18 in two communities with distinctly different infection risk and access to resources. The empirical findings from this project will be integrated to build a biocultural understanding of individual and group variation in pathogen disgust sensitivity. Educational components of the project contribute to the goal of broadening participation in science.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

长期以来，人们一直认为厌恶情绪有助于人类避免疾病。然而，厌恶程度（也称为厌恶敏感性）在不同个体之间可能存在很大差异，这对其行为产生影响。特别是，研究表明，厌恶敏感度较高的人更有动力回避某些物体、情况和人。这个博士研究项目调查了一个广泛的问题：为什么人们的厌恶敏感度有所不同？一种框架表明，童年环境的差异可能导致成人厌恶敏感性的差异。该项目是第一个测量不同童年年龄的厌恶敏感性的项目之一，以了解厌恶在整个成长和发展过程中如何变化。研究人员还研究了文化、个人和环境变量，这些变量可以解释个体之间厌恶敏感性的差异。这些发现可能对专注于降低感染风险和减缓流行病进展的健康和教育举措有用。了解儿童何时、为何以及如何避免感染，以及这种情况在个人和群体之间有何不同，将有助于此类举措。传染病一直是人类社会的一个长期特征。因此，人类似乎已经发展出文化和生物策略来避免感染性暴露。病原体厌恶敏感性被认为是引发回避行为的核心动机触发因素之一，但很少有研究调查它在童年时期如何发展或如何解释个体之间的差异。该项目研究了炎症、能量预算、病原体暴露控制、社会学习和性别等变量，这些变量可能解释了整个童年时期病原体厌恶敏感性的变化。研究人员通过自我报告和生理测量收集了两个社区中 6 至 18 岁儿童的这些变量，这两个社区的感染风险和资源获取情况截然不同。该项目的实证研究结果将被整合，以建立对病原体厌恶敏感性的个体和群体差异的生物文化理解。该项目的教育部分有助于实现扩大科学参与的目标。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。