Abstract: "Tybur et al., (2016) suggested that the relationship between pathogens and politics reflects intragroup rather than intergroup motivations. This contrast was based on their report from a survey of 11,501 participants across 30 countries that cross-national parasite stress related to traditional group norm adherence (intragroup), but was unrelated to the endorsement of intergroup hierarchy, as measured by social dominance orientation (SDO). This null effect was particularly surprising given the array of prior evidence showing that environments with more infectious diseases and experimental reminders of diseases increase intergroup conflict/prejudice. However, the authors did not control for group status, as indexed for instance by race/ethnicity, although decades of prior research demonstrate that both the levels and effects of SDO are fundamentally moderated by group status (e.g., Sidanius et al., 2001, Kunst et al., 2017). Ignoring these behavioral asymmetries thus may mask true effects. Here we show that parasite stress is related to SDO across 48 countries (N > 500,000), but only after controlling for dominant versus subordinate group status. We replicate this effect across the 50 US states (N > 350,000). These distinct race divergences extend to US political preferences such that Whites are explicitly and implicitly more likely to prefer Republicans in high infectious disease states, while non-Whites instead prefer Democrats. All these effects remained even after controlling for individual and state-level controls. Racial groups express more support in threatening environments for beliefs and political groups that are perceived as likely to protect or help their group interests. Additionally, I will show how new variants of the Germ Aversion (GA) subscale I developed, which captures ingroup (local region) versus outgroup (developing country) GA tendencies can enhance our understanding of explicit (e.g., likelihood of being infected versus healthy, levels of warmth; N > 1,472) and implicit (Brief Implicit Association Test; N = 456 – 1,332) attitudes towards ingroup (US) and outgroups (China, Italy, UK) during COVID-19. While controlling for key variables (e.g., COVID-19 concern) higher outgroup, but not ingroup or general germ aversion, was the most consistent predictor of ingroup preferences and outgroup disdain, with political ideology being the key mediator. Specifying the targets of germ aversion biases enhances our understanding of intergroup relations during a pandemic."
Speaker Bio: Dr Brian O’Shea (PhD, Warwick) is an assistant professor in the School of Psychology at University of Nottingham and scientific advisor for Project Implicit and Project Implicit Health at Harvard University. His work explores how group memberships and identities shape attitudes and behavior, with particular attention to prejudice, discrimination, and social justice. A key area of his research is his involvement in Project Implicit, an international network of researchers studying implicit cognition—automatic thoughts and feelings that often operate outside of conscious awareness. Dr. O'Shea’s work in this area contributes to understanding how unconscious attitudes and stereotypes influence behavior, particularly in the context of intergroup relations and social inequality. Dr. O'Shea’s research has been published in several high-impact, peer-reviewed journals, including The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Political Psychology, Social Psychological and Personality Science, Journal of Experimental Psychology, Social Cognition, Psychological Assessment.
Organizer and Chair: Yashpal Jogdand, HUSS
Discussant: Sumitava Mukherjee, HUSS