Why hating creepy crawlies is a sign you're healthy: Sensing unwelcome objects makes us react to threats so we avoid them

Do cockroaches and rats make you flinch? That doesn't necessarily make you a wimp - it could mean you're less likely to become ill.
The reason we flinch is down to a mechanism called the behavioural immune system. It is stimulated by sensing unwelcome objects via sight, sound, touch and smell, and makes us react to threats so we avoid them before they come into contact with our bodies.
It's a crude way to help protect us from ill health, but now a new study from British Columbia University (where the term 'behavioural immune system' was coined) says it's not just health it affects - it can also provide unique insight into all kinds of behaviour, from our choice of partner to the way we vote.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3096533/Why-hating-creepy-crawlies-sign-healthy-Sensing-unwelcome-objects-makes-react-threats-avoid-them.html#ixzz3bXWZoJxL



So after all the teasing to some of the poor ladies here like Eddie for example, it seems its perfectly healthy and normal to react the way they do to such danger. So don't many of us all look the foolish really including myself and yet happy this is the case and a real case of Karma for teasing fears of spiders people have.

This has however made me think based off parallels to prejudice views of groups of people that would have a misleading effect on the immune system:


The behavioural immune system is thought to be prompted by brain chemicals, including serotonin. This mood-enhancing chemical is also found in areas of the brain involved in the sensation of disgust and is very active in the gut, too, where it is well-placed to trigger nausea in response to disgust. 'Disgust is a fundamental part of human nature - it is the voice of our ancestors,' says Dr Val Curtis, a hygiene specialist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the author of Don't Look, Don't Touch, The Science Behind Revulsion. 'Research suggests there is a universal set of things that disgust people. They include body wastes, body contents, sick or unhygienic people, dirty environments, certain foods - especially if unfamiliar or spoiled - and certain animals, such as rats and cockroaches. 'Disgust is why we don't sit next to people who have visible signs of disease, such as rashes and open wounds. 'And disgust is partly the reason why we develop manners. We learn that spitting, for example, evokes feelings of disgust in other people, so we don't do it.'


What if an irrational view of disgust forms from irrational fear of groups of people. For example how many times have you hear homophobic people argue that if you associate with homosexuals, they will turn you into being gay. Or how a view of Gay people all having aids by such bigots is held. Could then such irrational and quite clearly bigoted views formed from ignorance, be misleading the brain to think they are a direct threat to the immune system. As seen there is no threat from homosexuals by association to the immune system of a heterosexual. So there is the possibility that such extreme paranoia is allowing the brain to wrongly activate behavioral immune system. As the brain has been so misled, It now thinks through misinformation that a homosexual is a threat to the immune system. I think you can apply this to many forms of bigotry. How some are overtly prejudice of Muslims. They take the view some Muslims are terrorists, believe stuff they read on the web and have formed a prejudice view of all Muslims by guilt by association.  Disgust at Pakistani grooming gangs, the irrational fear is formulated again from guilt by association of Pakistani's Clearly the brain naturally reacts with disgust at things which we have come to dislike, but clearly where some people are irrational, the behavioural immune system activates mistakenly wrongly thinking there is a danger to the immune system.

So to me after saying I was a fool for teasing Eddie and others on fearing spiders, I  might have stumbled upon the reason why very irrational prejudiced people are very difficult to reason and rationalize with They have created such an irrational disgust and hate of things it now could automatically trigger the behavioural immune system. This is no doubt why it is so difficult to help change such prejudice people, as you are combating a far more complex situation. You may even convince someone that their views are wrong and they change from racism for example, but how long does it take after for the behavioural immune system to stop being activated? All very subjective, but there might indeed be a link and why education will always be the key from allow a form of disgust of something to get out of control to the point a whole group of people is looked at with disgust. I think clearly far more work needs to be done here and it would interesting to know if there was a connection.  You then know off areas to work on and research further to help problems like this from arising.

"HATING" creepy crawlies is actually a sign of a sick, delusional and most likely deranged mind  !!!

THERE IS a world of a difference beiween having a mild fear or a passing distaste of various greeblies and wee l'il beasties on the one hand ~ and a morbid and irrational girly-man 'hatred' bordering on the psychopathic, towards any and all of Gaia's living wonders..


All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Good Lord made them all.

         

So a good 50% of women are "nutters" then? your so "macho" Wolf.

oh I see the shallow end of the gene pool is waffling again nicko,

I wonder who's stuck the stick in and stirred it this time

the man (and I use the term loosely) who keeps bees.....any single one of which is more intelligent than him

who "keeps" who I wonder.....

Didge your op is really interesting actually!
So many real racists do have an irrational fear of other races....

And as for the spiders thing.....

told you I was Normal!!!


And Beekeeper? Buzz off.

eddie wrote:Didge your op is really interesting actually!
So many real racists do have an irrational fear of other races....

And as for the spiders thing.....

told you I was Normal!!!


And Beekeeper? Buzz off.

Thought you might like the article Eddie...
The one thing I would like research is if there is a connection that is triggering the behavioral immune system. Where someone has allowed their mind to be persuaded with such extreme prejudiced views. Is to understand if the combination of both would make it as difficult to change or help someone overcome this prejudice phobia? There could be a correlation and it may explain why some people can allow themselves to be so easily led with prejudice. To me the hate they have absorbed overrides the normal parameters to ensure the behavioural immune system activates.
Well that is if this research conducted is true, these are my predictions to this sometime occuring

Would be interesting I guess! Some people have a very irrational fear of what they perceive to be "different" people

I always thought it was a generational brainwashing?

eddie wrote:Would be interesting I guess! Some people have a very irrational fear of what they perceive to be "different" people

I always thought it was a generational brainwashing?

It is, but for some that gets mixed up in primordial notions of hygiene, and that's a notion that's much harder to change people's minds on.

eddie wrote:
And Beekeeper? Buzz off.

Waste of time sorry. Can't watch vids at the moment

he is indeed eddie.....

If I find a spider in my home I leave it where it is, they are great at munching the little vampire fleas and flies. What bothers me is the new flying insects we are getting around here. Big things with almost a bone skeleton. Never seen a live one they are always dead in my plants by the time I find them.

nicko wrote:So a good 50% of women are "nutters" then?       your so "macho"  Wolf.

well that is probably a little bit of a low estimate how many do you think are not crazy

captainJane wrote:If I find a spider in my home I leave it where it is, they are great at munching the little vampire fleas and flies. What bothers me is the new flying insects we are getting around here. Big things with almost a bone skeleton. Never seen a live one they are always dead in my plants by the time I find them.

Moths?