Contagion is the belief that an entity’s invisible or essential qualities can be transferred to a... more Contagion is the belief that an entity’s invisible or essential qualities can be transferred to a target. Researchers studying contagion have often distinguished between physical contagion (the perceived transfer of germs, toxins, and pathogens) and spiritual contagion (the perceived transfer of metaphysical properties such as spirits, essence, and moral characteristics). While sensitivity to physical contagion is a component of several existing scales, to date, there are no scales that measure sensitivity to spiritual contagion. Here, we develop and validate a measure of Spiritual Contagion Sensitivity (SCS), which considers positive, negative, and neutral aspects of spiritual contagion. We demonstrate discriminant validity from existing measures of physical contagion sensitivity, such as perceived vulnerability to disease and disgust sensitivity (Study 1). We demonstrate construct validity by showing the correlation between SCS and a variety of published findings in the literature...
Food crops produced by new technologies such as genetic engineering are widely opposed (Gaskell, ... more Food crops produced by new technologies such as genetic engineering are widely opposed (Gaskell, Bauer, Durant & Allum, 1999; Scott, Inbar, Wirz, Brossard & Rozin, 2018). Here, we examine one reason for this opposition: recency. More recently-developed crops are evaluated less favorably, whether they are produced by artificial selection (i.e., conventional breeding), natural or man-made irradiation, or genetic engineering. Negative effects of recency persist in a within-subjects design where people are able to explicitly compare crops developed at different times, and an internal meta-analysis shows that the negative effect of recency is robust across measures and stimuli. These results have implications for the evaluation of crops produced using new modification techniques, including the widespread opposition to genetic engineering. Recency Negativity: Newer Food Crops are Disliked More Humans have been altering the plant genome through artificial selection for roughly the past 10,000 years (Zohary, Hopf, & Weiss, 2012), but the past century has seen significant advances in crop production resulting from new modification techniques. These include more intense forms of human selection, including well-known technologies such as genetic engineering (GE), but also older, lesser-known technologies such as forced mutation through irradiation or chemical exposure (Ahloowalia, Maluszynski, & Nichterlein, 2004; NAS, 2016; Wieczorek & Wright, 2012). Scientists are also developing next-generation gene editing techniques such as CRISPR-Cas9, which will allow more precise changes to organisms' genomes (Adli, 2018). New crop production technologies have already shown significant benefits-such as herbicide and pest resistance-to agricultural producers in both developing and developed countries (Klümper & Qaim, 2014). However, future applications could particularly benefit people in the developing world by making staple crops more pest-resistant, drought-tolerant, or vitamin-rich (Tang,
Food crops produced by new technologies such as genetic engineering are widely opposed (Gaskell, ... more Food crops produced by new technologies such as genetic engineering are widely opposed (Gaskell, Bauer, Durant & Allum, 1999; Scott, Inbar, Wirz, Brossard & Rozin, 2018). Here, we examine one reason for this opposition: recency. More recently-developed crops are evaluated less favorably, whether they are produced by artificial selection (i.e., conventional breeding), natural or man-made irradiation, or genetic engineering. Negative effects of recency persist in a within-subjects design where people are able to explicitly compare crops developed at different times, and an internal meta-analysis shows that the negative effect of recency is robust across measures and stimuli. These results have implications for the evaluation of crops produced using new modification techniques, including the widespread opposition to genetic engineering. Recency Negativity: Newer Food Crops are Disliked More Humans have been altering the plant genome through artificial selection for roughly the past 10,000 years (Zohary, Hopf, & Weiss, 2012), but the past century has seen significant advances in crop production resulting from new modification techniques. These include more intense forms of human selection, including well-known technologies such as genetic engineering (GE), but also older, lesser-known technologies such as forced mutation through irradiation or chemical exposure (Ahloowalia, Maluszynski, & Nichterlein, 2004; NAS, 2016; Wieczorek & Wright, 2012). Scientists are also developing next-generation gene editing techniques such as CRISPR-Cas9, which will allow more precise changes to organisms' genomes (Adli, 2018). New crop production technologies have already shown significant benefits-such as herbicide and pest resistance-to agricultural producers in both developing and developed countries (Klümper & Qaim, 2014). However, future applications could particularly benefit people in the developing world by making staple crops more pest-resistant, drought-tolerant, or vitamin-rich (Tang,
School children (N=218) who have not yet attained moderate reading fluency were tested for their ... more School children (N=218) who have not yet attained moderate reading fluency were tested for their awareness of a fundamental relationship between our writing system and speech: that the sounds of speech are represented in writing. Children were shown a long and short word written on a card (e.g., mow and motorcycle), and asked which word corresponded to a spoken word (e.g., mow). The word choices were always grossly different in length, so that a nonreader could perform perfectly if the relationship between written and spoken length was understood. Children were also asked about their basis for responding. Most inner-city kindergarteners in a reasonably representative sample did not perform well on this test. A majority of suburban kindergarteners and inner city first and second graders performed well, but many did not. Controls suggested that failure on this test cannot be attributed to the specific fora of presentation of the materials or to misunderstanding of the question being asked.
Abstract. It has been suggested that part of the widespread preference for chih pepper can be ex-... more Abstract. It has been suggested that part of the widespread preference for chih pepper can be ex-plained as a desensitization of the chemical irritant receptors in the mouth, produced by continued ex-posure to chili pepper. To evaluate this possibility, we measure detection thresholds ...
Instructing subjects to make images of word pairs greatly improves their memory for these pairs. ... more Instructing subjects to make images of word pairs greatly improves their memory for these pairs. It is commonly assumed that the memory improvement results from some advantage in memory of visual images over words. We show that the typical improvement in memory with imagery instructions that occurs in normal subjects also occurs in congenitally and totally blind adults. Hence, the mnemonic imagery effect cannot be explained with reliance on a mechanism that specifically relies on vision. We also demonstrate that the results cannot be explained in terms of imagery in nonvisual modalities.
The phenomenon of magical contagion-the unobserved passage of properties between entities that co... more The phenomenon of magical contagion-the unobserved passage of properties between entities that come into physical contact-was described by anthropologists over a century ago, yet questions remain about its origin, function, and universality. Contagion sensitivity, along with the emotion of disgust, have been proposed to be part of a biologically-evolved system designed to reduce exposure to pathogens by increasing the avoidance of "contaminated" objects. Yet this phenomenon has not been studied using systematic psychological comparison outside of industrialized populations. Here we document contagion sensitivity in two culturally, geographically, and economically distinct populations with little exposure to Western biomedicine and formal education: the Hadza hunter-gatherers of Tanzania and Tannese subsistence-agriculturalists of Vanuatu. In both populations, a majority of individuals rejected familiar and palatable foods when contaminating items touched the food but were subsequently removed. The Tannese children in our study showed a similar response, consistent with previous research with Western children. Our data support the proposal that contagion sensitivity is universal in human populations.
Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, Feb 1, 1965
Young thiamine deficient rats were tested for thiamine preference in a 2 choice (deficient vs. th... more Young thiamine deficient rats were tested for thiamine preference in a 2 choice (deficient vs. thiamine diet) situation with low or high vitamin concentration employed in different groups. Before the 10-day test period began most animals were injected with large amounts of thiamine, injections continuing regularly through the recovery and test period. Recovery periods ranged from 12 hr. to 10 days. Rats, partially or completely recovered from thiamine deficiency and having no need for thiamine, showed clear thiamine preference in similar proportion to deficient rats that needed thiamine. Control rats that had never been thiamine deficient showed no preference. Past history of thiamine deficiency seems a sufficient condition for the development of thiamine preference.
Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1969
Thiamine deficient rats, faced with a choice of four diets, only one of which contains thiamine, ... more Thiamine deficient rats, faced with a choice of four diets, only one of which contains thiamine, often develop strong preferences for the enriched choice. Deficient rats sample foods "systematically," and tend to eat only one type of food in any single meal. This adaptive feeding pattern, coupled with the the rat's ability to evaluate the consequences of ingestion of a particular food after only one or two meals, accounts for the rat's ability to behave adaptively when faced with multiple dietary choices. It is suggested that the sampling pattern seen in deficient rats is directly related to their reduced food intake and is simply an exaggerated form of the food sampling seen in normal rats.
Research on learning and memory in fish has followed two separate traditions. One, the biological... more Research on learning and memory in fish has followed two separate traditions. One, the biological or naturalistic, has addressed itself primarily to the role of learning in the natural life of fish and has thus organized itself around such functional problems as feeding, migration, and the like. The other tradition concerns the learning and memory capacities of fish determined under experimental laboratory conditions, viewed against the backdrop of traditional learning theory, and related to a comparative psychology of learning. This chapter discusses learning in fish. The chapter illustrates the largely descriptive naturalistic evidence, by functional area and the more programmatic and analytic “learning-theoretical” approach. The chapter focuses on the physiological or neural aspects of memory and learning and deals with memory and consolidation, the neural substrate of learning, interocular transfer, and cold block of learning. The chapter reviews representative examples of the use of learning as a tool to investigate other aspects of fish behavior.
People live in a world in which they are surrounded by potential disgust elicitors such as "used"... more People live in a world in which they are surrounded by potential disgust elicitors such as "used" chairs, air, silverware, and money as well as excretory activities. People function in this world by ignoring most of these, by active avoidance, reframing, or adaptation. The issue is particularly striking for professions, such as morticians, surgeons, or sanitation workers, in which there is frequent contact with major disgust elicitors. In this study, we study the "adaptation" process to dead bodies as disgust elicitors, by measuring specific types of disgust sensitivity in medical students before and after they have spent a few months dissecting a cadaver. Using the Disgust Scale, we find a significant reduction in disgust responses to death and body envelope violation elicitors, but no significant change in any other specific type of disgust. There is a clear reduction in discomfort at touching a cold dead body, but not in touching a human body which is still warm after death.
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears... more Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. American Association for the Advancement of Science is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Science. http://www.jstor.org these leaves and control leaves were treated for 4, 6, 8, 10, or 12 sec at 50?C at 205 hours after inoculation. The ED0s for the treated rust was 8 sec at 50?C, and for the control rust it was 5.5 sec at 50?C, as indicated by continuation of mycelial growth and spore production. It is believed that acquired heat tolerance may be an important factor in the ecological heat tolerance of plants and their pathogens (3).
Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the selection of food by rats, humans, and other animals... more Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the selection of food by rats, humans, and other animals, and focuses on the complex problems, especially in food recognition and choice, in the omnivores or generalists. Food selection implies food ingestion. Food ingestion implies the presence of food. Therefore, background for the study of food selection includes the food search process: search images and search mechanisms for finding appropriate food stimuli in the environment. Honey bees provide fine examples of a highly developed food search system. Food selection also implies the ability to obtain or capture food, and to assimilate it, for which many often exotic mechanisms have been evolved. Given the presence of potential food, ingestion then usually depends on an internal state or detector indicating a “need” for the particular food or class of foods, and recognition of the potential food as food. Omnivores, such as rats and humans, faced with an enormous number of potential foods, must choose wisely. They are always in danger of eating something harmful or eating too much of a good thing. Although there are some helpful internal mechanisms, such as poison detoxification, nutrient biosynthesis, and nutrient storage, the major share of the burden for maintaining nutritional balance must out of necessity come from incorporation of appropriate nutrients in the environment and, hence, behavior. The most striking parallel between human and rat feeding is in the neophobia seen in both. The chapter discusses the multiple determinants of food selection in man that are divided into biological factors and effects of individual experience, on one hand, and cultural influences, on the other.
Contagion is the belief that an entity’s invisible or essential qualities can be transferred to a... more Contagion is the belief that an entity’s invisible or essential qualities can be transferred to a target. Researchers studying contagion have often distinguished between physical contagion (the perceived transfer of germs, toxins, and pathogens) and spiritual contagion (the perceived transfer of metaphysical properties such as spirits, essence, and moral characteristics). While sensitivity to physical contagion is a component of several existing scales, to date, there are no scales that measure sensitivity to spiritual contagion. Here, we develop and validate a measure of Spiritual Contagion Sensitivity (SCS), which considers positive, negative, and neutral aspects of spiritual contagion. We demonstrate discriminant validity from existing measures of physical contagion sensitivity, such as perceived vulnerability to disease and disgust sensitivity (Study 1). We demonstrate construct validity by showing the correlation between SCS and a variety of published findings in the literature...
Food crops produced by new technologies such as genetic engineering are widely opposed (Gaskell, ... more Food crops produced by new technologies such as genetic engineering are widely opposed (Gaskell, Bauer, Durant & Allum, 1999; Scott, Inbar, Wirz, Brossard & Rozin, 2018). Here, we examine one reason for this opposition: recency. More recently-developed crops are evaluated less favorably, whether they are produced by artificial selection (i.e., conventional breeding), natural or man-made irradiation, or genetic engineering. Negative effects of recency persist in a within-subjects design where people are able to explicitly compare crops developed at different times, and an internal meta-analysis shows that the negative effect of recency is robust across measures and stimuli. These results have implications for the evaluation of crops produced using new modification techniques, including the widespread opposition to genetic engineering. Recency Negativity: Newer Food Crops are Disliked More Humans have been altering the plant genome through artificial selection for roughly the past 10,000 years (Zohary, Hopf, & Weiss, 2012), but the past century has seen significant advances in crop production resulting from new modification techniques. These include more intense forms of human selection, including well-known technologies such as genetic engineering (GE), but also older, lesser-known technologies such as forced mutation through irradiation or chemical exposure (Ahloowalia, Maluszynski, & Nichterlein, 2004; NAS, 2016; Wieczorek & Wright, 2012). Scientists are also developing next-generation gene editing techniques such as CRISPR-Cas9, which will allow more precise changes to organisms' genomes (Adli, 2018). New crop production technologies have already shown significant benefits-such as herbicide and pest resistance-to agricultural producers in both developing and developed countries (Klümper & Qaim, 2014). However, future applications could particularly benefit people in the developing world by making staple crops more pest-resistant, drought-tolerant, or vitamin-rich (Tang,
Food crops produced by new technologies such as genetic engineering are widely opposed (Gaskell, ... more Food crops produced by new technologies such as genetic engineering are widely opposed (Gaskell, Bauer, Durant & Allum, 1999; Scott, Inbar, Wirz, Brossard & Rozin, 2018). Here, we examine one reason for this opposition: recency. More recently-developed crops are evaluated less favorably, whether they are produced by artificial selection (i.e., conventional breeding), natural or man-made irradiation, or genetic engineering. Negative effects of recency persist in a within-subjects design where people are able to explicitly compare crops developed at different times, and an internal meta-analysis shows that the negative effect of recency is robust across measures and stimuli. These results have implications for the evaluation of crops produced using new modification techniques, including the widespread opposition to genetic engineering. Recency Negativity: Newer Food Crops are Disliked More Humans have been altering the plant genome through artificial selection for roughly the past 10,000 years (Zohary, Hopf, & Weiss, 2012), but the past century has seen significant advances in crop production resulting from new modification techniques. These include more intense forms of human selection, including well-known technologies such as genetic engineering (GE), but also older, lesser-known technologies such as forced mutation through irradiation or chemical exposure (Ahloowalia, Maluszynski, & Nichterlein, 2004; NAS, 2016; Wieczorek & Wright, 2012). Scientists are also developing next-generation gene editing techniques such as CRISPR-Cas9, which will allow more precise changes to organisms' genomes (Adli, 2018). New crop production technologies have already shown significant benefits-such as herbicide and pest resistance-to agricultural producers in both developing and developed countries (Klümper & Qaim, 2014). However, future applications could particularly benefit people in the developing world by making staple crops more pest-resistant, drought-tolerant, or vitamin-rich (Tang,
School children (N=218) who have not yet attained moderate reading fluency were tested for their ... more School children (N=218) who have not yet attained moderate reading fluency were tested for their awareness of a fundamental relationship between our writing system and speech: that the sounds of speech are represented in writing. Children were shown a long and short word written on a card (e.g., mow and motorcycle), and asked which word corresponded to a spoken word (e.g., mow). The word choices were always grossly different in length, so that a nonreader could perform perfectly if the relationship between written and spoken length was understood. Children were also asked about their basis for responding. Most inner-city kindergarteners in a reasonably representative sample did not perform well on this test. A majority of suburban kindergarteners and inner city first and second graders performed well, but many did not. Controls suggested that failure on this test cannot be attributed to the specific fora of presentation of the materials or to misunderstanding of the question being asked.
Abstract. It has been suggested that part of the widespread preference for chih pepper can be ex-... more Abstract. It has been suggested that part of the widespread preference for chih pepper can be ex-plained as a desensitization of the chemical irritant receptors in the mouth, produced by continued ex-posure to chili pepper. To evaluate this possibility, we measure detection thresholds ...
Instructing subjects to make images of word pairs greatly improves their memory for these pairs. ... more Instructing subjects to make images of word pairs greatly improves their memory for these pairs. It is commonly assumed that the memory improvement results from some advantage in memory of visual images over words. We show that the typical improvement in memory with imagery instructions that occurs in normal subjects also occurs in congenitally and totally blind adults. Hence, the mnemonic imagery effect cannot be explained with reliance on a mechanism that specifically relies on vision. We also demonstrate that the results cannot be explained in terms of imagery in nonvisual modalities.
The phenomenon of magical contagion-the unobserved passage of properties between entities that co... more The phenomenon of magical contagion-the unobserved passage of properties between entities that come into physical contact-was described by anthropologists over a century ago, yet questions remain about its origin, function, and universality. Contagion sensitivity, along with the emotion of disgust, have been proposed to be part of a biologically-evolved system designed to reduce exposure to pathogens by increasing the avoidance of "contaminated" objects. Yet this phenomenon has not been studied using systematic psychological comparison outside of industrialized populations. Here we document contagion sensitivity in two culturally, geographically, and economically distinct populations with little exposure to Western biomedicine and formal education: the Hadza hunter-gatherers of Tanzania and Tannese subsistence-agriculturalists of Vanuatu. In both populations, a majority of individuals rejected familiar and palatable foods when contaminating items touched the food but were subsequently removed. The Tannese children in our study showed a similar response, consistent with previous research with Western children. Our data support the proposal that contagion sensitivity is universal in human populations.
Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, Feb 1, 1965
Young thiamine deficient rats were tested for thiamine preference in a 2 choice (deficient vs. th... more Young thiamine deficient rats were tested for thiamine preference in a 2 choice (deficient vs. thiamine diet) situation with low or high vitamin concentration employed in different groups. Before the 10-day test period began most animals were injected with large amounts of thiamine, injections continuing regularly through the recovery and test period. Recovery periods ranged from 12 hr. to 10 days. Rats, partially or completely recovered from thiamine deficiency and having no need for thiamine, showed clear thiamine preference in similar proportion to deficient rats that needed thiamine. Control rats that had never been thiamine deficient showed no preference. Past history of thiamine deficiency seems a sufficient condition for the development of thiamine preference.
Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1969
Thiamine deficient rats, faced with a choice of four diets, only one of which contains thiamine, ... more Thiamine deficient rats, faced with a choice of four diets, only one of which contains thiamine, often develop strong preferences for the enriched choice. Deficient rats sample foods "systematically," and tend to eat only one type of food in any single meal. This adaptive feeding pattern, coupled with the the rat's ability to evaluate the consequences of ingestion of a particular food after only one or two meals, accounts for the rat's ability to behave adaptively when faced with multiple dietary choices. It is suggested that the sampling pattern seen in deficient rats is directly related to their reduced food intake and is simply an exaggerated form of the food sampling seen in normal rats.
Research on learning and memory in fish has followed two separate traditions. One, the biological... more Research on learning and memory in fish has followed two separate traditions. One, the biological or naturalistic, has addressed itself primarily to the role of learning in the natural life of fish and has thus organized itself around such functional problems as feeding, migration, and the like. The other tradition concerns the learning and memory capacities of fish determined under experimental laboratory conditions, viewed against the backdrop of traditional learning theory, and related to a comparative psychology of learning. This chapter discusses learning in fish. The chapter illustrates the largely descriptive naturalistic evidence, by functional area and the more programmatic and analytic “learning-theoretical” approach. The chapter focuses on the physiological or neural aspects of memory and learning and deals with memory and consolidation, the neural substrate of learning, interocular transfer, and cold block of learning. The chapter reviews representative examples of the use of learning as a tool to investigate other aspects of fish behavior.
People live in a world in which they are surrounded by potential disgust elicitors such as "used"... more People live in a world in which they are surrounded by potential disgust elicitors such as "used" chairs, air, silverware, and money as well as excretory activities. People function in this world by ignoring most of these, by active avoidance, reframing, or adaptation. The issue is particularly striking for professions, such as morticians, surgeons, or sanitation workers, in which there is frequent contact with major disgust elicitors. In this study, we study the "adaptation" process to dead bodies as disgust elicitors, by measuring specific types of disgust sensitivity in medical students before and after they have spent a few months dissecting a cadaver. Using the Disgust Scale, we find a significant reduction in disgust responses to death and body envelope violation elicitors, but no significant change in any other specific type of disgust. There is a clear reduction in discomfort at touching a cold dead body, but not in touching a human body which is still warm after death.
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears... more Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. American Association for the Advancement of Science is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Science. http://www.jstor.org these leaves and control leaves were treated for 4, 6, 8, 10, or 12 sec at 50?C at 205 hours after inoculation. The ED0s for the treated rust was 8 sec at 50?C, and for the control rust it was 5.5 sec at 50?C, as indicated by continuation of mycelial growth and spore production. It is believed that acquired heat tolerance may be an important factor in the ecological heat tolerance of plants and their pathogens (3).
Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the selection of food by rats, humans, and other animals... more Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the selection of food by rats, humans, and other animals, and focuses on the complex problems, especially in food recognition and choice, in the omnivores or generalists. Food selection implies food ingestion. Food ingestion implies the presence of food. Therefore, background for the study of food selection includes the food search process: search images and search mechanisms for finding appropriate food stimuli in the environment. Honey bees provide fine examples of a highly developed food search system. Food selection also implies the ability to obtain or capture food, and to assimilate it, for which many often exotic mechanisms have been evolved. Given the presence of potential food, ingestion then usually depends on an internal state or detector indicating a “need” for the particular food or class of foods, and recognition of the potential food as food. Omnivores, such as rats and humans, faced with an enormous number of potential foods, must choose wisely. They are always in danger of eating something harmful or eating too much of a good thing. Although there are some helpful internal mechanisms, such as poison detoxification, nutrient biosynthesis, and nutrient storage, the major share of the burden for maintaining nutritional balance must out of necessity come from incorporation of appropriate nutrients in the environment and, hence, behavior. The most striking parallel between human and rat feeding is in the neophobia seen in both. The chapter discusses the multiple determinants of food selection in man that are divided into biological factors and effects of individual experience, on one hand, and cultural influences, on the other.
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Papers by Paul Rozin