Is Disgust Prepared? A Preliminary Examination in Young Children

Children may be prepared to associate adult disgust reactions with adult disgust elicitors. To test this, three-year olds (and adults) were presented with two images and an emotive vocalization. The images and vocalizations included stimuli adults found disgusting, fear-provoking, and sad. On one set of trials, the main dependent variable (DV) was time spent looking at each image and on a second set of repeat trials the DV was knowledge of image-sound matches. Fear and disgust vocalizations were both more effective at orienting a child's attention to adult fear and disgust images, than sad vocalizations. Parental disgust sensitivity was associated with this effect, moderated by explicit matching knowledge. Matching knowledge was poor in children and good in adults. These data suggest that in children, fear and disgust vocalizations may both promote attention to stimuli that adults find disgusting and/or fear-provoking, suggesting that “preparedness” may not be wholly emotion-specific.     

Behavioral competition in a case of Rett syndrome

Major behavioral features of Rett syndrome are the loss of instrumental reaching and grasping and the presentation of some variant of hand-hand or hand-mouth stereotypy. As part of an experimental home intervention program, a 3-year-old girl with Rett syndrome was exposed to four types of contingency games designed to elicit instrumental reaching, kicking, vocalization, and eye movement, respectively. Parent and subject performance were videorecorded on seven occasions over the initial 2-month period. Evaluation of these records provided evidence of contingency learning in all but the vocalization games. Stereotypic hand clasping was examined in relation to the performance of instrumental behavior (reaching, kicking, looking). Coincidental (short-term mutual inhibition arising by chance co-occurrence), associative (short-term mutual inhibition arising by having elicitor in common), and foundational (long-term mutual inhibition arising by having neural network in common) forms of specific behavioral competition were defined and examined. Evidence for coincidental and foundational competition was found in the relation between reaching and hand clasping. Implications for the support of functional hand use are discussed.     

Age-related changes in children's hedonic response to male body odor

Male sweat smells disgusting to many adults, but it is unclear whether children find it so. In Experiment 1A, children (mean age = 8.7 years) and adolescents (M=16.6 years) smelled male sweat and other odors, rated each for liking, and attempted their identification. Only female adolescents disliked male sweat and could identify it. Experiment 1B, using the same procedure, obtained this gender difference in adults (M=26.7 years). In Experiment 2, children (M=8.1 years) and adolescents (M=16.6 years) were cued about the identity of the same odors. Irrespective of gender, adolescents disliked male sweat more than did children. In sum, dislike for the odor of male sweat may be an acquired social response that is based on odor identification.     

Modifying Children's Gender-Typed Musical Instrument Preferences: The Effects of Gender and Age

Previous research has indicated that children display gender-typed musical instrument preferences. Two studies were conducted to determine (a) whether these preferences can be modified by presenting counter-examples (i.e., instruments played by gender-inappropriate musicians) and (b) whether child gender or age (kindergarten vs. 4th grade) influences the efficacy of such interventions. A videotape presentation format was employed in Study 1 and drawings in Study 2. Children exposed to counter-examples were less stereotyped than those who saw the instruments without musicians (Study 1) or with gender-appropriate musicians (Studies 1 & 2). Age did not influence children's responsiveness to the counter-examples, but boys were more resistant to the intervention than girls. There was some evidence that the counter-examples were effective not simply because children were attracted to same-sex musicians. Instead, children's instrument choices also appeared to be motivated by a desire to avoid behaving like musicians of the other-sex. Potential strategies for increasing children's responsiveness to instrument counter-examples (e.g., multiple exemplars; portrayal of positive consequences) were also discussed.     

Infants' understanding of the link between visual perception and emotion: "If she can't see me doing it, she won't get angry."

Two experiments investigated 18-month-olds' understanding of the link between visual perception and emotion. Infants watched an adult perform actions on objects. An emoter then expressed neutral affect or anger toward the adult in response to the adult's actions. Subsequently, infants were given 20 s to interact with each object. In Experiment 1, the emoter faced infants with a neutral expression during each 20-s response period but looked at either a magazine or the infant. In Experiment 2, the emoter faced infants with a neutral expression, and her eyes were either open or closed. When the emoter visually monitored infants' actions, the infants regulated their object-directed behavior on the basis of their memory of the emoter's affect. However, if the previously angry emoter read a magazine (Experiment 1) or closed her eyes (Experiment 2), infants were not governed by her prior emotion. Infants behaved as if they expected the emoter to get angry only if she could see them performing the actions. These findings suggest that infants appreciate how people's visual experiences influence their emotions and use this information to regulate their own behavior.     

Does the source of an interpersonal odour affect disgust? A disease risk model and its alternatives

Using self‐report, this paper explored whether a malodour's source (self, liked person, stranger) influences hedonic responding. In Study 1, participants were presented with vignettes describing various encounters with malodours. Negative affect increased when body malodours emanated from a stranger rather than oneself (the source effect). Study 2 replicated this finding using a smell diary, in which participants recorded their hedonic responses to real odours. Study 3 determined that this source effect was not due to a social status or a halo effect. Study 4 examined the role of exposure and attachment. Exposure, but not attachment, best accounted for the source effect. Study 5 examined whether perceived disease risk varied by source and whether this could account for the source effect. The findings suggested that there are two mechanisms by which disgust responses to malodours can be modulated to reflect the disease risk of their source: implicitly, by mere exposure, and explicitly, by knowledge of risk. In the discussion, we argue that avoiding contact with disease‐causing agents is adaptive, and that this is implicitly modulated by exposure, so that the cues for disease emanating from people encountered less frequently are treated with more caution. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Linking actions and emotions: Evidence from 15‐ and 18‐month‐old infants

This study investigated 15‐ and 18‐month‐olds' understanding of the link between actions and emotions. Infants watched a videotape in which three adult models performed an action on an object. Each adult expressed the same emotion (positive, negative, or neutral affect) on completion of the action. Infants were subsequently given 20 seconds to interact with the object. Infants were less likely to perform the target action after the models' expressed negative as opposed to positive or neutral affect. Although infants' imitative behaviour was influenced by the models' emotional displays, this social referencing effect was not apparent in their more general object‐directed behaviour. For instance, infants in the negative emotion condition were just as quick to touch the object and spent the same amount of time touching the object as did infants in the neutral and positive emotion conditions. These findings suggest that infants understood that the models' negative affect was in response to the action, rather than the object itself. Infants apparently used this negative emotional information to appraise the action as one that was ‘undesirable’ or ‘bad’. Consequently, infants were now loath to reproduce the action themselves.