行为免疫系统对个体就医行为倾向的影响

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1041.2022.00931

摘要/Abstract

摘要：

研究首次考察了行为免疫系统与个体就医行为倾向的关系。3个研究一致显示：行为免疫系统特质性激活水平较高的个体更容易对就医持消极态度和延迟就医; 情境性激活行为免疫系统会使得个体更不愿意就医和更倾向于延迟就医; 且行为免疫系统激活对就医态度和就医延迟倾向的影响以对就医感染风险的感知为中介。这支持了进化失配假说, 提示行为免疫系统对现代医学可能缺乏进化的适应性, 并为理解现代人类就医行为提供了新的理论视角。

关键词: 行为免疫系统, 厌恶, 就医行为, 延迟就医, 进化失配假说

Abstract:

Over the long course of evolution, in order to cope with the threat of pathogens, both animals and humans have evolved complex disease defense mechanisms, one of which is known as the behavioral immune system. The behavioral immune system is a complex suite of cognitive, affective, and behavioral mechanisms that ultimately help prevent pathogen transmission in the face of recurrent infectious disease threats. It functions by detecting threat-relevant cues in the environment and activating disgust-related responses aimed at diminishing those threats. However, in modern times, with advanced medical technology, the behavioral immune system may not always be beneficial to human disease control behaviors. Previous studies have found that, the social strategies that are designed to avoid infection in ancient times may lead to more serious health problems (e.g., the damage to the cardiovascular system) in modern society. These studies suggest that the behavioral immune system may be evolutionary mismatch in the modern and complex medical environment, which may have negative effects on our medical-seeking behavior. Therefore, we hypothesized that, in modern society, the activation of behavioral immune system will affect individuals' medical-seeking tendency, making individuals display more negative attitudes towards health-care and become more likely to delay their medical-seeking.
This hypothesis was systematically tested by three different studies. In these studies, we used a well-validated medical-seeking attitude questionnaire and a computerized patient delay task to measure the individuals' medical-seeking tendency. Specifically, in Study 1A (223 participants) and Study 2A (218 participants), we investigated the relationship between trait activation level of behavioral immune system and individuals' medical-seeking tendency by employing the scales of Disgust Scale-Revised Chinese and Perceived Vulnerability to Diseases. In Study 1B (198 participants) and Study 2B (174 participants), we situationally activated the behavioral immune system by asking the participants to watch disease-salient primes in order to investigate the effects of external disease cues on the medical-seeking tendency. In Study 3, we investigated that whether the effects of the activation of behavioral immune system on the medical-seeking attitude and tendency were mediated by the perception of the risk of hospital infection.
The results showed that: 1) core disgust negatively predicted the attitude of participants toward medical- seeking; 2) core disgust positively predicted the tendency of participants to delay medical-seeking; 3) situationally activating the behavioral immune system significantly affected the attitude of participants toward medical- seeking and the tendency of participants to delay medical-seeking, participants were found to be more likely to have a negative attitude toward medical-seeking and delay their medical-seeking after watching the disease- salient primes; 4) the perception of the risk of hospital infection mediated the relationship between the activation of behavioral immune system and medical-seeking attitude and tendency, participants who had higher core disgust or received disease-salient primes were more likely to perceive the medical-seeking situations as infectious, which subsequently led the participants to adopt more negative attitudes toward medical-seeking and to display stronger patient-delay tendency.
These results support our hypothesis, suggesting that the ancient behavioral immune system may have a negative effect on the medical-seeking behavior in contemporary society. These results are consistent with the evolutionary mismatch hypothesis and provide a new theoretical perspective for the further understanding of the medical-seeking behavior of modern humans.

Key words: behavioral immune system, disgust, medical-seeking behavior, patient delay, evolutionary mismatch hypothesis

中图分类号:

B849:C91

吴奇, 吴浩, 周晴, 陈东方, 鲁帅, 李林芮. (2022). 行为免疫系统对个体就医行为倾向的影响. 心理学报, 54(8), 931-950.

WU Qi, WU Hao, ZHOU Qing, CHEN Dongfang, LU Shuai, LI Linrui. (2022). The ancient behavioral immune system shapes the medical-seeking behavior in contemporary society. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 54(8), 931-950.

图/表 7

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题号	内容
1	如果我觉得自己生病了, 我的第一反应是我应该去看医生。
2	如果我现在患了重病, 我相信医生的专业治疗能够治疗好我的病。
3	如果一个人能够自己解决身体健康问题, 而不需要寻求专业的帮助, 是很让人钦佩的。
4	如果我长时间感觉身体不舒服, 我会想要得到专业医生的帮助。
5	将来, 如果我生病了, 我可能会想去看医生。
6	有身体健康问题的人不太可能独自解决自己的问题。
7	看医生又花时间又花钱, 而且还不一定治得好病, 我觉得, 对我这样的人来说, 去看医生不划算。
8	一个人应该自己解决自己身体健康问题, 看医生是最后的选择。
9	个人身体健康问题跟很多事情一样, 大都是由自己解决的。

题号	内容
1	如果我觉得自己生病了, 我的第一反应是我应该去看医生。
2	如果我现在患了重病, 我相信医生的专业治疗能够治疗好我的病。
3	如果一个人能够自己解决身体健康问题, 而不需要寻求专业的帮助, 是很让人钦佩的。
4	如果我长时间感觉身体不舒服, 我会想要得到专业医生的帮助。
5	将来, 如果我生病了, 我可能会想去看医生。
6	有身体健康问题的人不太可能独自解决自己的问题。
7	看医生又花时间又花钱, 而且还不一定治得好病, 我觉得, 对我这样的人来说, 去看医生不划算。
8	一个人应该自己解决自己身体健康问题, 看医生是最后的选择。
9	个人身体健康问题跟很多事情一样, 大都是由自己解决的。

变量	1	2	3	4	5	6
1. 污染厌恶	–	0.47^**	0.57^**	-0.01	0.32^**	-0.15^*
2. 动物提醒厌恶		–	0.49^**	0.06	0.14^*	-0.08
3. 核心厌恶			–	0.03	0.33^**	-0.18^**
4. PI				–	0.11	0.05
5. GA					–	0.04
6. 就医态度						–

变量	1	2	3	4	5	6
1. 污染厌恶	–	0.47^**	0.57^**	-0.01	0.32^**	-0.15^*
2. 动物提醒厌恶		–	0.49^**	0.06	0.14^*	-0.08
3. 核心厌恶			–	0.03	0.33^**	-0.18^**
4. PI				–	0.11	0.05
5. GA					–	0.04
6. 就医态度						–

变量	1	2	3	4	5	6
1. 污染厌恶	–	0.5^**	0.59^**	0.1	0.38^**	-0.02
2. 动物提醒厌恶		–	0.57^**	0.08	0.18^**	-0.06
3. 核心厌恶			–	0.2^**	0.36^**	0.15^*
4. PI				–	0.2^*	-0.01
5. GA					–	0.06
6. 就医延迟						–