Theses and dissertations

This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students. 

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How is the Behavioral Immune System Related to Culturally-Learned Disease Avoidance Strategies?

Description
Infectious disease presents a serious threat to our fitness. The biological immune system provides several mechanisms for dealing with this threat. So too does another system: the behavioral immune system. This second system is proposed to consist of a set of evolved cognitive, affective, and behavioral strategies for reducing the…

Infectious disease presents a serious threat to our fitness. The biological immune system provides several mechanisms for dealing with this threat. So too does another system: the behavioral immune system. This second system is proposed to consist of a set of evolved cognitive, affective, and behavioral strategies for reducing the likelihood of infection, including xenophobia, traditionalism, and food neophobia. In the present work, I investigate how another suite of fairly novel culturally-learned disease avoidance strategies, namely hygiene behaviors and knowledge of germ theory, are related to the behavioral immune system. Across two studies, I find that individuals who engage in more hygiene behaviors show less evidence of reliance on several elements of the behavioral immune system (i.e., xenophobia, traditionalism, food neophobia). Similarly, individuals who know more about germ theory show less engagement in behavioral immune system components. These findings suggest that effective cultural strategies for avoiding infectious disease may supplant older, evolved psychological strategies with the same purpose.
ContributorsWormley, Alexandra S (Author) / Varnum, Michael E.W. (Thesis advisor) / Cohen, Adam B (Committee member) / Kenrick, Douglas (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
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Understanding Ecology and Culture through Archival Data

Description
In understanding why cultures differ from one another, one might consider their ecology: the social and physical features of the environment relevant to an organism’s fitness. Multiple theories propose that cultures and the individuals within them respond to the threats and opportunities offered by the ecology in predictable and adaptive…

In understanding why cultures differ from one another, one might consider their ecology: the social and physical features of the environment relevant to an organism’s fitness. Multiple theories propose that cultures and the individuals within them respond to the threats and opportunities offered by the ecology in predictable and adaptive ways. This dissertation demonstrates how ecology can -- but does not always -- explain a significant portion of cultural variation. The three published, first-authored, peer-reviewed articles featured in this work leverage best practices in archival data to demonstrate the relationship between ecology and cultural variation. Chapter 2 describes the creation of the Eco-Cultural Dataset which contains data on 11 ecological variables and 72 cultural variables in up to 220 countries. Chapter 3 utilizes this dataset to estimate the effect of ecology on culture, writ large. Chapter 4 explores the potential role of pathogens in the existence and prevalence of food taboos in religious and cultural groups. The final chapter reviews the limitations of utilizing archival data to investigate ecology and culture, as well as proposing exciting future directions for the field.
ContributorsWormley, Alexandra (Author) / Varnum, Michael EW (Thesis advisor) / Cohen, Adam B (Committee member) / Neuberg, Steven L (Committee member) / Wynne, Clive DL (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024