Pathogen disgust predicts stigmatization of individuals with mental health conditions

Both avoidance of individuals with cues of infectious illnesses and stigmatization of other types of individual (e.g., obese individuals) are hypothesized to reflect infectious disease avoidance. However, direct empirical tests of this hypothesis have been somewhat rare. Consequently, we tested for possible relationships between subscales of the Three Domain Disgust Scale and stigmatization of individuals with one of three mental health conditions (schizophrenia, skin-picking disorder, or sexual sadism disorder) in a sample of 117 participants. Scores on the pathogen disgust subscale of the Three Domain Disgust Scale were positively correlated with stigmatization of these mental health conditions. By contrast, scores on the sexual and moral disgust subscales of the Three Domain Disgust Scale were not significantly related to the stigmatization of mental health conditions. When analyzed separately, there were significant positive effects of pathogen disgust for skin picking and sexual sadism, but not schizophrenia. These results potentially implicate overgeneralization of infectious disease avoidance in the stigmatization of individuals with mental health conditions

Denials as controllers of negative quantifier focus

Statements quantified by negative and positive quantifiers can put attentional focus on different subsets of the logical possibilities that the quantifiers allow semantically. This is manifested in differences in the patterns of reference which are allowed by positive and negative quantifiers (Moxey & Sanford, 1987). Here we contrast two different proposed mechanisms for the effect. In the semantic account of Kibble (1997), the focus pattern of the negative quantifiers is derivable from a postulated underlying semantics, and it takes downward monotonicity in proportional quantifiers as its basis. In the inference account which we postulate, it is denial, a property strongly associated with negativity, which is presumed to be the root of the focus patterns. In Experiment 1 we contrast sentence production patterns associated with monotone decreasing quantifiers that form denials with those that form affirmations, in a free continuation task. In Experiment 2, we use a continuation task in which participants are required to use an initial pronoun in their productions. In both cases, the denial/affirmation contrast is shown to be the main determinant of focus patterns. Experiment 3 provides a test of an explanation postulated for a surprise focus effect found for one of the monotone increasing set. The effects are taken to show the inadequacy of the semantic account, and they generally support the inference account

Linguistic focus and good-enough representations: An application of the change-detection paradigm

A number of lines of study suggest that word meanings are not always fully exploited in comprehension. In two experiments, we used a text-change paradigm to study depth of semantic processing during reading. Participants were instructed to detect words that changed across two consecutive presentations of short texts. The results suggest that the full details of word meanings are not always incorporated into the interpretation and that the degree of semantic detail in the representation is a function of linguistic focus. The results provide evidence for the idea that representations are only good enough for the purpose at hand (Ferreira, Bailey, and Ferraro, 2002)

Good‐enough representation in plural and singular pronominal reference

When two individuals have been linked by a connective, a complex reference object is formed, and subsequent reference by plural anaphors rather than singular ones is preferred. Two reading time and one text change detection study were carried out to examine further the details of the representation of singular and plural objects under these circumstances. The normal conjunction cost associated with subsequently referring to one of the individuals by a singular pronoun is eliminated in circumstances where for the purposes of communication there is nothing to be gained from a singular/plural distinction. The findings fit with current views of shallow, good-enough processing, in which semantic distinctions in mental representations are only made when functionally necessary

Individual differences in pathogen disgust predict responses to trypophobic images

Pathogen disgust is thought to function primarily to reduce exposure to infectious diseases. Recent work has found that viewing trypophobic images (i.e., images showing clusters of small holes or bumps) elicits stronger negative responses in people who report greater pathogen disgust. This association has been reported for responses to trypophobic images that pose no obvious threat of infectious disease (i.e., infectious-disease-unrelated images) and is independent of the possible effects of disgust in other domains (e.g., moral or sexual disgust). In a sample of 494 participants, we replicated the finding that pathogen disgust, but not moral or sexual disgust, predicted individual differences in the extent to which infectious-disease-unrelated images (a lotus pod and a honeycomb) elicited negative responses. These results contribute to a growing body of work that may implicate pathogen disgust in a range of attitudes to individuals, groups, and objects, even when they pose no obvious threat of infectious disease

Quantifier polarity and referential focus during reading

We report the results of two eye-tracking experiments that examine how readers process sentences containing anaphoric pronouns when the referent is provided by a preceding quantified statement. Previous studies (Moxey & Sanford, 1987; Sanford, Moxey, & Paterson, 1996) have shown that positive and negative quantifiers (e.g., a few and few, respectively) cause subjects to focus on different aspects of the described situation and have direct consequences for the interpretation of subsequent anaphoric pronouns. In the present studies, we consider whether positive and negative quantifiers make different sets available as the referents of subsequent anaphora or if readers must infer the nature of these sets on encountering the anaphor. The results suggest that positives do make sets available as referents, whereas in the case of negatives, readers must infer the referent set. The findings are consistent with linguistic arguments concerning the differences between positive and negative quantifiers and add to our understanding of complex plural anaphora

A unified account of quantifer perspective effects in discourse

Positive and negative quantifiers induce two very different perspectives in comprehenders—perspectives that have strong applications to rhetoric and communication. These are briefly reviewed. A potential mechanism, based on earlier work, is introduced, resting on the idea that negatively quantified sentences (like Not all of the boys went to the party) may be given interpretations that both consist of an asserted amount, and a supposition of a greater amount. This account, the supposition-denial theory, is proposed as a unifying mechanism that explains the variety of perspective effects. Straightforward predictions from this account are tested in three studies. In particular, we found that a linguistic index of denial almost perfectly predicted the incidence of particular kinds of focus effects (Study 1 and 3). We also show that the observed perspectives set up by negative quantifiers depend upon the whole quantified sentence being processed, not just the quantifier (Study 2). This is consistent with the denial aspect being central to perspective. We discuss how positive quantifiers may also be treated within the framework, leading to independently confirmed predictions. Finally, we discuss the relation of our account to current work in pragmatics and semantics