Abstract
Body odors are universal elicitors of disgust, a core emotion that plays a key role in the behavioral immune system (BIS) – a set of psychological functions working to avoid disease. Recent studies showed that body odor disgust sensitivity (BODS) is associated with explicit xenophobia and authoritarianism. In the current experimental pre-registered study (https://osf.io/6jkp2/), we investigated the association between olfactory pathogen cues, BODS and implicit bias toward an outgroup (tested by an implicit association test). Results show that BODS is positively related to implicit bias toward an outgroup, suggesting that social attitudes may be linked to basic chemosensory processes. These attitudes were not influenced by background odors. Additionally, BODS was related to social, but not economic conservatism. This study extends the BIS framework to an experimental context by focusing on the role of disgust and body odors in shaping implicit bias.
Highlights
Disgust and PrejudiceIs there a link among odor disgust, disease-avoidance mechanisms, and prejudice? Disgust is a basic emotion and a key aspect of disease avoidance
body odor disgust sensitivity (BODS) Is Related to Implicit Bias The model including BODS and the order of blocks within the implicit association test (IAT) emerged as the best model
In the current preregistered study, we found that disgust sensitivity to body odors (BODS) is related to implicit bias toward an outgroup
Summary
Is there a link among odor disgust, disease-avoidance mechanisms, and prejudice? Disgust is a basic emotion and a key aspect of disease avoidance. The first process involves perceiving the social world as a dangerous place, which prompts authoritarian ideology; the other involves viewing the social world as a “competitive jungle,” which is associated with social dominance These processes may fuel negative attitudes toward immigrants, because authoritarianism may be viewed as a form of avoidance We wanted to extend the evidence for the role of body odor disgust in BIS by investigating implicit bias toward a stigmatized minority out-group in Sweden, namely the Romani people, hypothesizing that such bias would be positively associated with BODS scores.
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