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UBC Theses and Dissertations
Heuristic cues automatically activate disease cognitions despite rational knowledge to the contrary Duncan, Lesley Alexandra
Abstract
According to one adaptive perspective on social cognition, the perception of facial disfigurement activates an evolved disease-avoidance mechanism, and in so doing automatically triggers disease-relevant cognitions. The present study used the implicit association test (IAT; Greenwald, McGhee & Schwartz, 1998), a computer-based reaction-time methodology to provide an especially strong test of the alleged automaticity of this disfigurement-disease linkage. The methods were designed to measure who is more likely to be implicitly linked to the concept "disease"- (a) a person who is known to be healthy but who has a facial disfigurement, or (b) a person who is known to be infected with a contagious disease but who looks just fine. The findings suggest that the tendency to associate disfigurement with disease is automatic and can actually override explicit rational knowledge to the contrary. Some limitations and implications of the study are discussed.
Item Metadata
Title |
Heuristic cues automatically activate disease cognitions despite rational knowledge to the contrary
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Creator | |
Publisher |
University of British Columbia
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Date Issued |
2005
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Description |
According to one adaptive perspective on social cognition, the perception of facial
disfigurement activates an evolved disease-avoidance mechanism, and in so doing automatically
triggers disease-relevant cognitions. The present study used the implicit association test (IAT;
Greenwald, McGhee & Schwartz, 1998), a computer-based reaction-time methodology to
provide an especially strong test of the alleged automaticity of this disfigurement-disease
linkage. The methods were designed to measure who is more likely to be implicitly linked to
the concept "disease"- (a) a person who is known to be healthy but who has a facial
disfigurement, or (b) a person who is known to be infected with a contagious disease but who
looks just fine. The findings suggest that the tendency to associate disfigurement with disease is
automatic and can actually override explicit rational knowledge to the contrary. Some
limitations and implications of the study are discussed.
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Genre | |
Type | |
Language |
eng
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Date Available |
2009-12-15
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Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
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Rights |
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
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DOI |
10.14288/1.0092171
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URI | |
Degree | |
Program | |
Affiliation | |
Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
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Graduation Date |
2005-11
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Campus | |
Scholarly Level |
Graduate
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Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
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Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.