Abstract
Disgust triggers behavioral avoidance of pathogen-carrying and fitness-reducing agents. However, because of the cost involved, disgust sensitivity should be flexible, varying as a function of an individual’s immunity. Asymptomatic colonization with Staphylococcus aureus often results from weakened immunity and is a potential source of subsequent infections. In this study, we tested if pharyngeal colonization with S. aureus, evaluated based on a single swab collection, is related to an individual’s disgust sensitivity, measured with the Three Domain Disgust Scale. Levels of immunomodulating hormones (cortisol and testosterone), general health, and body adiposity were controlled. Women (N = 95), compared to men (N = 137), displayed higher sexual disgust sensitivity, but the difference between individuals with S. aureus and without S. aureus was significant only in men, providing support for prophylactic hypothesis, explaining inter-individual differences in disgust sensitivity. Men (but not women) burdened with asymptomatic S. aureus presence in pharynx exhibit higher pathogen disgust (p = 0.04) compared to individuals in which S. aureus was not detected. The positive relationship between the presence of the pathogen and sexual disgust was close to the statistical significance level (p = 0.06), and S. aureus colonization was not related with moral disgust domain.
Highlights
Disgust is a self-protective emotion, that evokes a negative effect toward potentially disease-bearing sources, triggering behavioral avoidance of pathogens and various fitness-reducing activities
Women exhibited higher total disgust sensitivity, which was mainly driven by the difference in sexual disgust sensitivity (Table 2)
The results of our study showed that men colonized by S. aureus exhibited higher disgust sensitivity compared to noncolonized men
Summary
Disgust is a self-protective emotion, that evokes a negative effect toward potentially disease-bearing sources, triggering behavioral avoidance of pathogens and various fitness-reducing activities. Behavioral repulsion, evoked by disgust, provides obvious advantages associated with infection avoidance [1,2], there is a cost involved, such as dietary selectivity, loss of energy, and time devoted to disease avoidance. Previous research showed that health and immunity level may explain the inter- and intraindividual differences in disgust sensitivity. Women in the first trimester of pregnancy, when maternal immunity is suppressed, exhibit elevated disgust sensitivity [4]. Longitudinal studies showed that changes in pathogen disgust sensitivity in menstrual cycle
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