. We aimed to determine (1) the attributes of multiple stigmatized populations, (2) whether Kurzb... more . We aimed to determine (1) the attributes of multiple stigmatized populations, (2) whether Kurzban and Leary’s (2001) functional typology of stigma emerges and identifies the dimensions upon which each stigma type differs, and (3) the emotional responses toward emergent stigma types. Participants ( N = 2,674) were assigned to 1/52 stigma target conditions and their attitudes surveyed. Data were analyzed by multilevel factor analysis with stigma targets at Level 2. There were five within-factors at Level 1 (social competence, interpersonal access, social inclusion, immorality, perceived permanence) and three between-factors at Level 2 (interpersonal stigmatization, morality-based stigmatization, chronic stigmatization). Interpersonal stigmatization was predicted by disgust and pity, and morality-based stigmatization was predicted by disgust and [-]happiness, with no predictors for chronic stigmatization. These results support a functional typology of stigma.
Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, Feb 1, 2023
Introduction: This study compared the Trust Promotes Adjustment (TPA) approach with the Centralis... more Introduction: This study compared the Trust Promotes Adjustment (TPA) approach with the Centralist Approach to Trust (CAT) regarding the relationship between trust beliefs in others and psychosocial adjustment. The TPA predicted linear, whereas the CAT predicted quadratic, relationships between the two. The predictions were tested by analyses for the curvilinearity of data gathered by Teunisse et al. (2020). Method: Six hundred and fifty-one adults (M age = 24.9 years, SD = 10.4 years) completed standardized scales of trust beliefs in others, agreeableness, and social intelligence. Results: In support of TPA, trust beliefs in others were linearly associated with social awareness. In support of CAT, quadratic relations were found between trust beliefs in others and both agreeableness and social skills. Individuals with very low or very high trust beliefs showed lower agreeableness and social skills than those with the midrange of trust beliefs or the linear relationship between the variables. Individuals showed optimal psychosocial adjustment when trust beliefs were between 1.5 standard deviations above and below the mean. Discussion: These findings challenge the traditional TPA, which asserts that increasing trust in others corresponds to increasing psychosocial adjustment. The findings support the CAT hypothesis that too little or too much trust in others is associated with psychosocial maladjustment with implications for psychopathology.
. Both disgust and disease-related images appear able to induce an innate immune response but it ... more . Both disgust and disease-related images appear able to induce an innate immune response but it is unclear whether these effects are independent or rely upon a common shared factor (e.g., disgust or disease-related cognitions). In this study we directly compared these two inductions using specifically generated sets of images. One set was disease-related but evoked little disgust, while the other set was disgust evoking but with less disease-relatedness. These two image sets were then compared to a third set, a negative control condition. Using a wholly within-subject design, participants viewed one image set per week, and provided saliva samples, before and after each viewing occasion, which were later analyzed for innate immune markers. We found that both the disease related and disgust images, relative to the negative control images, were not able to generate an innate immune response. However, secondary analyses revealed innate immune responses in participants with greater propensity to feel disgust following exposure to disease-related and disgusting images. These findings suggest that disgust images relatively free of disease-related themes, and disease-related images relatively free of disgust may be suboptimal cues for generating an innate immune response. Not only may this explain why disgust propensity mediates these effects, it may also imply a common pathway.
Medical conditions that are non-contagious, but that appear contagious, seem to result in the suf... more Medical conditions that are non-contagious, but that appear contagious, seem to result in the sufferer being avoided. Error management theory (EMT), suggests that such false alarms occur because the cost of infection poses a greater threat to ones fitness than avoidance. Study 1 attempted to demonstrate a disease-related false alarm effect by asking participants, to evaluate a series of vignettes, featuring people with infectious diseases, non-infectious diseases that looked infectious and non-infectious diseases that did not. Judgements of contracting infection under varying levels of contact, and desire to avoid were obtained. Consistent with EMT, a false alarm effect was evident. Study 2 examined the importance of the face as a key indicator of real and apparent infection, by determining whether facial symptoms result in a greater desire to avoid people with infectious and non-infectious diseases. Consistent with expectation, participants reported a greater desire to avoid people...
The functional basis of disgust in disease avoidance is widely accepted; however, there is disagr... more The functional basis of disgust in disease avoidance is widely accepted; however, there is disagreement over what disgust is. This is a significant problem, as basic questions about disgust require knowing if single/multiple forms/processes exist. We address this issue with a new model with one form of disgust generated by multiple processes: (a) pure disgust experienced during gastrointestinal illness; (b) somatosensory disgust elicited by specific cues that activate the pure disgust state; (c) anticipatory disgust elicited by associations between distance cues for somatosensory disgust and requiring threat evaluation; (d) simulated disgusts elicited by imagining somatosensory and anticipatory disgust and frequently involving other emotions. Different contamination processes interlink (a–d). The implications of our model for fundamental questions about disgust (e.g., emotion status; continuation into animals) are examined.
Disgust is a natural defensive emotion that has evolved to protect against potential sources of c... more Disgust is a natural defensive emotion that has evolved to protect against potential sources of contamination and has been recently linked to moral judgements in many studies. However, that people often report feelings of disgust when thinking about feces or moral transgressions alike does not necessarily mean that the same mechanisms mediate these reactions. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging ( = 22) to investigate whether core and moral disgusts entrain common neural systems. We provide evidence that: (i) activation of overlapping brain regions between core and moral disgust is the result of content overlap in the vignettes--across conditions, and not from moral violations , and (ii) moral residue (i.e., the remaining or "residual" activation after the influence of core disgust elicitors have been taken into account) produced a pattern of activation that is more consistent with moral anger, than one of "residual disgust." These finding...
. We aimed to determine (1) the attributes of multiple stigmatized populations, (2) whether Kurzb... more . We aimed to determine (1) the attributes of multiple stigmatized populations, (2) whether Kurzban and Leary’s (2001) functional typology of stigma emerges and identifies the dimensions upon which each stigma type differs, and (3) the emotional responses toward emergent stigma types. Participants ( N = 2,674) were assigned to 1/52 stigma target conditions and their attitudes surveyed. Data were analyzed by multilevel factor analysis with stigma targets at Level 2. There were five within-factors at Level 1 (social competence, interpersonal access, social inclusion, immorality, perceived permanence) and three between-factors at Level 2 (interpersonal stigmatization, morality-based stigmatization, chronic stigmatization). Interpersonal stigmatization was predicted by disgust and pity, and morality-based stigmatization was predicted by disgust and [-]happiness, with no predictors for chronic stigmatization. These results support a functional typology of stigma.
Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, Feb 1, 2023
Introduction: This study compared the Trust Promotes Adjustment (TPA) approach with the Centralis... more Introduction: This study compared the Trust Promotes Adjustment (TPA) approach with the Centralist Approach to Trust (CAT) regarding the relationship between trust beliefs in others and psychosocial adjustment. The TPA predicted linear, whereas the CAT predicted quadratic, relationships between the two. The predictions were tested by analyses for the curvilinearity of data gathered by Teunisse et al. (2020). Method: Six hundred and fifty-one adults (M age = 24.9 years, SD = 10.4 years) completed standardized scales of trust beliefs in others, agreeableness, and social intelligence. Results: In support of TPA, trust beliefs in others were linearly associated with social awareness. In support of CAT, quadratic relations were found between trust beliefs in others and both agreeableness and social skills. Individuals with very low or very high trust beliefs showed lower agreeableness and social skills than those with the midrange of trust beliefs or the linear relationship between the variables. Individuals showed optimal psychosocial adjustment when trust beliefs were between 1.5 standard deviations above and below the mean. Discussion: These findings challenge the traditional TPA, which asserts that increasing trust in others corresponds to increasing psychosocial adjustment. The findings support the CAT hypothesis that too little or too much trust in others is associated with psychosocial maladjustment with implications for psychopathology.
. Both disgust and disease-related images appear able to induce an innate immune response but it ... more . Both disgust and disease-related images appear able to induce an innate immune response but it is unclear whether these effects are independent or rely upon a common shared factor (e.g., disgust or disease-related cognitions). In this study we directly compared these two inductions using specifically generated sets of images. One set was disease-related but evoked little disgust, while the other set was disgust evoking but with less disease-relatedness. These two image sets were then compared to a third set, a negative control condition. Using a wholly within-subject design, participants viewed one image set per week, and provided saliva samples, before and after each viewing occasion, which were later analyzed for innate immune markers. We found that both the disease related and disgust images, relative to the negative control images, were not able to generate an innate immune response. However, secondary analyses revealed innate immune responses in participants with greater propensity to feel disgust following exposure to disease-related and disgusting images. These findings suggest that disgust images relatively free of disease-related themes, and disease-related images relatively free of disgust may be suboptimal cues for generating an innate immune response. Not only may this explain why disgust propensity mediates these effects, it may also imply a common pathway.
Medical conditions that are non-contagious, but that appear contagious, seem to result in the suf... more Medical conditions that are non-contagious, but that appear contagious, seem to result in the sufferer being avoided. Error management theory (EMT), suggests that such false alarms occur because the cost of infection poses a greater threat to ones fitness than avoidance. Study 1 attempted to demonstrate a disease-related false alarm effect by asking participants, to evaluate a series of vignettes, featuring people with infectious diseases, non-infectious diseases that looked infectious and non-infectious diseases that did not. Judgements of contracting infection under varying levels of contact, and desire to avoid were obtained. Consistent with EMT, a false alarm effect was evident. Study 2 examined the importance of the face as a key indicator of real and apparent infection, by determining whether facial symptoms result in a greater desire to avoid people with infectious and non-infectious diseases. Consistent with expectation, participants reported a greater desire to avoid people...
The functional basis of disgust in disease avoidance is widely accepted; however, there is disagr... more The functional basis of disgust in disease avoidance is widely accepted; however, there is disagreement over what disgust is. This is a significant problem, as basic questions about disgust require knowing if single/multiple forms/processes exist. We address this issue with a new model with one form of disgust generated by multiple processes: (a) pure disgust experienced during gastrointestinal illness; (b) somatosensory disgust elicited by specific cues that activate the pure disgust state; (c) anticipatory disgust elicited by associations between distance cues for somatosensory disgust and requiring threat evaluation; (d) simulated disgusts elicited by imagining somatosensory and anticipatory disgust and frequently involving other emotions. Different contamination processes interlink (a–d). The implications of our model for fundamental questions about disgust (e.g., emotion status; continuation into animals) are examined.
Disgust is a natural defensive emotion that has evolved to protect against potential sources of c... more Disgust is a natural defensive emotion that has evolved to protect against potential sources of contamination and has been recently linked to moral judgements in many studies. However, that people often report feelings of disgust when thinking about feces or moral transgressions alike does not necessarily mean that the same mechanisms mediate these reactions. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging ( = 22) to investigate whether core and moral disgusts entrain common neural systems. We provide evidence that: (i) activation of overlapping brain regions between core and moral disgust is the result of content overlap in the vignettes--across conditions, and not from moral violations , and (ii) moral residue (i.e., the remaining or "residual" activation after the influence of core disgust elicitors have been taken into account) produced a pattern of activation that is more consistent with moral anger, than one of "residual disgust." These finding...
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