Effects of sickness manipulation on disgust and pleasantness in interpersonal touch.

ABSTRACT: The theory of the behavioral immune system (BIS) describes a set of behaviors that protect the individual from infectious diseases and that are motivated by disgust and the perceived vulnerability to disease. As interpersonal touch is one of the most common situations of potential transmission of infectious diseases in our everyday life, it seems likely that being touched by an apparently sick individual activates disgust. Our aim was to determine if risk of contamination from interpersonal touch alters the pleasantness of interpersonal touch and modulates facially expressed emotions. In total, 64 participants received interpersonal stroking by either a healthy or by sick-appearing experimenter. Half the strokes were performed at a slow velocity of 3 cm/s and half at a faster velocity of 3

SUBMITTER: Gruhl A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9489268 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature