Social class in the mind’s eye: Mental representations, egalitarianism, and discrimination Motivation: Recent declines in explicit bias have, unfortunately, not been accompanied by substantial reductions in group-based inequality. This suggests that implicit biases—relatively unconscious, automatic judgments—may play powerful roles in reinforcing existing social inequalities. The current work examines implicit biases through the lens of social […]

Social class in the mind’s eye: Mental representations, egalitarianism, and discrimination Motivation: Recent declines in explicit bias have, unfortunately, not been accompanied by substantial reductions in group-based inequality. This suggests that implicit biases—relatively unconscious, automatic judgments—may play powerful roles in reinforcing existing social inequalities. The current work examines implicit biases through the lens of social […]

Outgroup Equals Infectiousness? Re-Evaluating the Pathogen Avoidance Account of Xenophobia Xenophobia is thought to emerge, in part, from the behavioral immune system. We conducted two studies—a longitudinal study and an experiment—to test this hypothesis from two different perspectives. The longitudinal study, assessed at four time points of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands—May 2020, N1 […]

Outrage in Moral Punishments: The Dual Dynamics of Anger and Disgust in Personal Experience and Social Signaling Exploring the emotional landscape in moral punishments, two projects examine the roles of anger and disgust in responses to moral transgressions, through perspectives of personal experience and social signaling. The first project, with two studies (N’s = 908, […]

I’m thrilled to share that I’ve officially started my new postdoc appointment at the Centre for the Experimental-Philosophical study of Discrimination (CEPDISC), Department of Political Sciences, Aarhus BSS, Aarhus University, as of March 1st, 2024. I’m eager to dive into research and collaborations in this exciting new chapter of my academic journey. Stay tuned for […]

Beyond outrage: Observers anticipate different behaviors from expressors of anger versus disgust The modern world affords unprecedented opportunities for individuals to express themselves. The widespread distribution of one specific type of expression – moral outrage – has consequences for social and political harmony. The current investigation contributes to better understanding these consequences by examining what […]

Are people more averse to microbe-sharing with ethnic outgroup members Intergroup biases are widespread across cultures and time. The current study tests an existing hypothesis that has been proposed to explain such biases: the mind has evolved to interpret outgroup membership as a cue to pathogen threat. In this registered report, we test a core […]

Retesting the Hypothesis of Behavioral Immune System as the Basis of Intergroup Biases during a Pandemic Lei Fan & Joshua M. Tybur Intergroup biases are thought to (partially) emerge from the behavioral immune system. We conducted two studies – one longitudinal study and one experiment – to test this hypothesis from two different perspectives. The […]

Pathogen Disgust Sensitivity But Not Explicit Disease Concerns Predicts Immigration Attitudes During a Pandemic Lei Fan & Joshua M. Tybur Intergroup biases are thought to partially emerge from the behavioral immune system. The current longitudinal study (assessed at three time points of the COVID-19 pandemic – May 2020, N1 = 998; February 2021, N2 = […]