ArticlePDF Available

Evolutionary Origins of Stigmatization: The Functions of Social Exclusion

Authors:

Abstract

A reconceptualization of stigma is presented that changes the emphasis from the devaluation of an individual's identity to the process by which individuals who satisfy certain criteria come to be excluded from various kinds of social interactions. The authors propose that phenomena currently placed under the general rubric of stigma involve a set of distinct psychological systems designed by natural selection to solve specific problems associated with sociality. In particular, the authors suggest that human beings possess cognitive adaptations designed to cause them to avoid poor social exchange partners, join cooperative groups (for purposes of between-group competition and exploitation), and avoid contact with those who are differentially likely to carry communicable pathogens. The evolutionary view contributes to the current conceptualization of stigma by providing an account of the ultimate function of stigmatization and helping to explain its consensual nature.
... Disease detection and trading strategies depend on the predictive power of a signal and on an individual's costs and benefits from interacting with others. I characterize a society's "tolerance to disease" along danger and visibility lines (Kurzban and Leary 2001). I derive equilibrium comparative statics for intrinsic characteristics of diseases such as the ex-post costs and benefits of social exchange, which I associate with more or less dangerous diseases, and a disease's stochastic properties such as persistence in the disease state and signal-to-noise ratio, which I associate to the visibility of disease. ...
... Ecological and evolutionary literatures relate disease to the acquisition of culture and socially-learned values and behaviors, including social exclusion and stigma (Curtis et al. 2011;Kurzban and Leary 2001;Oaten et al. 2011). The parasite-stress theory of values and sociality (Thornhill and Fincher 2014), argues for a behavioral immune system that functionally selects values and preferences based on pathogen exposure and shared immunity. ...
... Also, some disease signs are very difficult to conceal because infection induces expulsive defenses (i.e., spitting, vomiting, diarrhea, coughing, sneezing, and rhinorrhea). Finally, evolutionary pressures have enhanced disease detection mechanisms from the long coevolution between humans and parasites (Kurzban and Leary 2001;Thornhill and Fincher 2014). ...
Article
Full-text available
I study the social regulation of disease in a search-theoretic economy where health is uncertain and imperfectly observed, and exchange carries the risk of contagion. Traders confront a signal-extraction problem and the equilibrium features a “better safe than sorry” strategy where disease and fear of contagion trigger false alarms, limit the extent of the market, and foster social exclusion. Society’s tolerance toward a disease depends on its danger and visibility. Using these characteristics, I interpret the regulation of the major epidemics in the West (leprosy, plague, smallpox, and cholera) to illustrate how societal anxieties surrounding epidemics fueled prejudice and exclusion.
... The difference has been elegantly theorized by Goffman [16] as that of having a "discredited" identity, in the case of stigmatized conditions that are immediately apparent (eg., visible skin lesions, body size, behavioral manifestations of symptoms), or having a "discreditable" identity, as in those devalued conditions or identities that can be concealed (e.g., sexual orientation, cancer), and hence, only discredited if people choose to reveal them to others. As theorized by Jones and colleagues [35], esthetic aspects may also contribute as they have been linked to strong emotional reactions involved in stigma and prejudice based on disease avoidance, such as pity, and contempt [38], fear, and disgust [39]. For instance, skin lesions caused by psoriasis have been strongly linked with disgust and misperception of contagiousness, leading to avoidance of contact with those affected. ...
... In line with previous literature [38,39] to capture emotions associated with target chronic illnesses we asked participants to indicate the emotion that would best describe their experience when imagining taking care of the patient from a list, which included curiosity, compassion, pity, fear, disgust, and indifference. ...
Article
Full-text available
Ethnic prejudice in healthcare has been widely examined, yet little is known about its intersection with stigma and prejudice based on one’s health status. The present study investigates the intersections of ethnic prejudice and stigma of chronic disease in a healthcare setting as shaping unique forms of disadvantage. From an intersectional perspective, we examined whether ethnically diverse patients affected by stigmatized health conditions would be differentially perceived and cared for by prospective medical doctors. In a within-subjects, experimental design, preclinical medical students read, and evaluated clinical vignettes describing patients, who were presented as either White Italian or Middle Eastern migrants and were affected by visible and concealable stigmatized chronic conditions. Emotional reactions, attributions about disease-onset, caretaking attitudes, and meta-beliefs about patient disclosure behavior were assessed. Results showed that when reading of patients affected by visible compared to concealable stigmatized conditions medical students experienced stigma-related emotions (e.g., disgust, pity, fear) and attributed patients a higher tendency to be embarrassed, to hide, and to avoid disclosure for fear of others’ negative reactions. However, Middle Eastern migrants when affected by conditions with visible and behavioral manifestations were attributed a lesser tendency to feel embarrassed, to hide, and to avoid illness disclosure for fear of others’ negative reactions compared to White Italian patients with the same conditions. These findings indicate that at the intersection of ethnic prejudice and health-related stigma, multiply stigmatized patients may become invisible and not fully considered in the eyes of medical students. Present results underscore the need to enhance diversity representation in higher medical education for a more inclusive healthcare curriculum and practice.
... Several mental health organizations voiced concern that Arthur's transformation might reinforce stigmas, suggesting that those with mental health issues are inherently dangerous (Cockerham, 2020;Halliwell, 2017). The social ramifications of stigma can lead to further alienation and misunderstanding (Kurzban & Leary, 2001;Thoits, 2011). However, others defended the film as a bold examination of how individuals become desperate when deprived of consistent care and empathy. ...
Article
Full-text available
This study examines the narrative and cultural representation of mental health and marginalization in the 2019 film Joker through a qualitative approach. Framed as a form of visual literature, Joker offers a profound lens to explore the stigmatization of mental illness and the societal alienation faced by marginalized individuals. Utilizing narrative analysis and cultural studies, our study investigates key elements such as characterization, symbolism, and thematic structures to uncover how the film critiques societal attitudes and systemic failures related to mental health. The findings reveal that Joker humanizes its protagonist, Arthur Fleck, while exposing the broader societal and institutional mechanisms that perpetuate stigma and inequality. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on mental health and cultural studies by emphasizing the role of visual media in challenging dominant narratives and fostering critical discourse. The implications extend to fields such as literature, cultural representation, and education, advocating for the use of media as a tool for promoting mental health awareness and social inclusion.
... Similarly, individuals are more likely to perceive out-group members as hostile or aggressive (Brewer 1979;Quillian and Pager 2001), reflecting a bias where the cost of missing potential hostility from an outgroup member is greater than the cost of erroneously perceiving aggression. Additionally, people require minimal evidence of illness or contamination to avoid someone, whereas much more substantial evidence is needed to conclude that an individual poses no threat of contagion (Kurzban and Leary 2001;Park, Faulkner, and Schaller 2003). ...
Article
Full-text available
This paper applies error management theory (EMT) (Haselton and Buss 2000) to explore how disruptions in epistemic trust—trust in communicated information—can be understood as adaptive responses to early adversity in individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD). I propose that epistemic mistrust (EM) and epistemic credulity (EC), characterized by inappropriate trust patterns, arise from the differential costs of trusting unreliable versus mistrusting reliable information. Although these biases may seem maladaptive, they function as evolutionary survival mechanisms in response to harsh environments. Signal detection analysis can provide empirical evidence for these trust biases by assessing how individuals with BPD make trust-related decisions. Clinically, understanding these biases as evolutionary adaptations helps reduce stigma and informs evolutionary-informed interventions to recalibrate trust responses and improve interpersonal relationships. This approach highlights the significance of integrating evolutionary perspectives in treating trust disturbances in BPD.
... Research on ostracism has proliferated since the early 2000s, in particular to theorize and examine its functions and antecedents 19,20 and identify risk factors of experiencing social exclusion or ostracism such as unemployment 21 and psychopathology 22 . Mounting efforts have been similarly devoted to addressing the consequences of ostracism or social exclusion and its underlying mechanisms 23,24 . ...
... Stigmatization, on the other hand, is a dynamic process by which one group imposes and maintains human inferiority on another group, characterizing the group's qualities that are biased toward the negative and thereby overshadowing other characteristics, becoming an indicator that corresponds to the group's attributes in an essential sense (Goffman, 1986). This process is one of the most common strategies employed by the party in a position of strength and without stigma (Kurzban and Leary, 2001). ...
Article
Full-text available
Objectives While many studies have shown that student-athletes are a stigmatized group and topics related to them have received increasing attention, few studies have focused on the current situation of Chinese sports students (tiyu sheng) with the same dual identity as student-athletes. Thus, this study aims to understand and recognize the negative perceptions that students with sports identities experience in the Chinese educational and cultural context and the impact of these perceptions on them. Methods This qualitative study used an interpretive description methodology to collect data through semi-structured, in-depth interviews conducted by the researcher with 11 sports students, 4 regular students, 3 teachers, and 2 parents. Then, the interview data was analyzed using reflective thematic analysis. Results Three themes were eventually extracted: (1) The onset and development of stigma, (2) Stigma factors in the spotlight, and (3) the Response to stigmatization by sports students. Conclusion Findings indicated that sports students are subjected to various stigmas under the negative filters of society. The stigmas suffered by sports students vary across school years and levels, and their perceptions of stigmas may also change over time and in different environments. In addition, being subjected to stereotype threat and self-stigma may have hurt some participants. The study’s results also provide evidence that the Internet plays a vital role in exacerbating the development of stigmatization among sports students, which needs to be determined by further research. These findings will contribute to subsequent research on the de-stigmatization of sports students.
... In particular, communicating to others one's lack of belonging appears to be interpreted by others as a signal of low relational value (Lau & Gruen, 1992). Potential partners may interpret a person's high belongingness needs as indicating that they are not adequately accepted in their social environment (e.g., which may suggest that they have been excluded or rejec ted by others) and make for poor prospective social partners (Kurzban & Leary, 2001). Indeed, predominant theories of interpersonal relationships highlight the importance of social exchanges (Machia et al., 2020), where satisfying relationships are evaluated in terms of rewards and costs, and people may assume that those who lack social connec tions will offer few relational rewards and several costs. ...
Article
Full-text available
We examine a problem faced by individuals with a high need to belong; expressing a desire for social relationships may make it more difficult to form them. In particular, we suggest expressions of heightened belongingness needs create a negative halo effect whereby people expressing those needs appear to be less attractive and more desperate to potential relationship partners. In two experiments, participants viewed hypothetical targets who endorsed high, moderate, or low levels of the need to belong, and then rated these targets on measures of social attractiveness and social desperation. Results revealed that participants rated both high and low need to belong targets as low in social attractiveness (Experiment 1, N = 116) and social stature (Experiment 2, N = 111), relative to the moderate need to belong target. However, participants rated the high need to belong target significantly higher in social desperation, compared to the moderate and low need to belong targets. Lastly, social desperation significantly mediated the association between (high vs. moderate) expressed need to belong and social attractiveness, suggesting that expressing heightened need to belong is uniquely unattractive to others as it conveys a sense of social desperation. Overall, these results suggest that when they express a desire to form close relationships, those high in the need to belong may have a difficult time achieving a sense of belonging.
... There are many reasons not to trust a person based on a behaviour that is not by itself immoral. There are adaptive reasons why someone behaving unpredictably or nonnormatively may impact your trust and willingness to cooperate with them, regardless of whether that behaviour is strictly immoral [95]. For example, behaving non-normatively is associated with selfishness, which has been found to cause avoidance in workplaces [96]. ...
Article
Full-text available
A trait labelled as “morality” has been argued to be perceived and prioritised during first impressions of faces; however, immorality is not a homogenous concept. Violations of purity are frequently distinguished from other violations via distinct behavioural and emotional patterns, arguably stemming from physical disgust, sexual content, or “weirdness” impure scenarios. In the current research, participants were asked to rate unfamiliar faces based on social traits and their likelihood of engaging in immoral or nonmoral behaviours. Across two studies, perceived engagement in most autonomy and purity moral violations but also the non-moral sexual and “weird” acts was predicted by lower facial morality. There was also a distinction wherein most purity violations and physical disgust were more associated with male gender, and most autonomy violations with ratings of high dominance. The scenarios also differed within categories, such as sexually impure scenarios and disgust associated with unattractive faces; while behaving “weirdly” and certain other purity violations were associated with low dominance. Taken together, our results suggest faces seemingly low on the trait labelled “morality” are perceived as more likely to engage in most immoral behaviours, but also in other socially relevant, nonmoral behaviours. Social judgements are also not homogenous within or between theory-based categories of moral violations.
Article
In any educational setting, stigmatisation and implicit biases can stifle growth and reduce the quality of the learning experience of students from low socio‐economic status by creating invisible barriers to opportunity and achievement. Furthermore, due to the lack of monitoring and mentoring, these invisible barriers become harder to detect and overcome. Considering that human learning potential has no limits, there is a need for quality teaching and learning processes that provide fitting unstigmatized learning experience to each individual learner. To achieve the fitting learning experience and desired outcomes, understanding teaching quality is essential for continuous improvement of educational objectives, curricular contents and instructional delivery. Considering that teaching and learning are two interconnected phases of any educational process, both teaching and learning have distinctive subphases leading to desired outcomes that are tied to the long reaching educational objectives. It is evident that, at the end of any successful education process, the learning outcomes demonstrated by the constructed learning of the learner are strongly linked to the quality of the instituted educational objective, curricular contents, and quality unstigmatized delivery of the teacher to each individual learner. In fact, studies of the quality of the learning experiences show that one of the main keys to maximising learners' success is the quality of course contents and instructional activities. To ensure quality of the learning experience to all the learners in the class, these instructional activities must provide the needed monitoring and mentoring to each individual learner. In this paper, a framework for individualised unstigmatized holistic education process teaching and learning phases is discussed from quality of education perspective. The framework addresses the full learner development, the corresponding holistic teaching, and the teacher learner interface. The essential elements, subphases and key characteristics are discussed through the development of the three educational framework domains. The development and deployment of the presented framework are illustrated in higher education context.
Article
Although the intergroup sensitivity effect has indicated that people are more defensive to out-group members’ criticism compared to in-group members’ criticism, it is still unclear how people react when they criticize their in-group and others validate their criticism. In two studies, we applied the tripartite model of self and social identity theory to investigate how people respond to such validation when the validation was from an out-group member compared to when it was from an in-group member. We found that even though participants initiated the criticism of their in-group, they perceived the out-group validation more as a criticism of their selves than the in-group validation. Consequently, their relationship with the person who validated was negatively influenced when the person was an out-group member compared to an in-group member. Furthermore, the effect was moderated by their psychological closeness to the in-group. Specifically, when participants felt closer to the in-group, they perceived the out-group (vs. in-group) validation more as a criticism of their selves, and thus their relationship with the person who validated was more negatively influenced. However, these effects disappeared (Study 1) or became smaller (Study 2) when participants felt less close to the in-group.
Article
Full-text available
A new theory of cognitive biases, called error management theory (EMT), proposes that psychological mechanisms are designed to be predictably biased when the costs of false-positive and false-negative errors were asymmetrical over evolutionary history. This theory explains known phenomena such as men's overperception of women's sexual intent, and it predicts new biases in social inference such as women's underestimation of men's commitment. In Study 1 (N = 217), the authors documented the commitment underperception effect predicted by EMT. In Study 2 (N = 289), the authors replicated the commitment bias and documented a condition in which men's sexual overperception bias is corrected. Discussion contrasts EMT with the heuristics and biases approach and suggests additional testable hypotheses based on EMT.
Article
Full-text available
Prejudice against fat people was compared with symbolic racism. An anti-fat attitudes questionnaire was developed and used in several studies testing the notion that antipathy toward fat people is part of an “ideology of blame.” Three commonalities between antifat attitudes and racism were explored: (a) the association between values, beliefs, and the rejection of a stigmatized group, (b) the old-fashioned antipathy toward deviance of many sorts, and (c) the lack of self-interest in out-group antipathy. Parallels were found on all 3 dimensions. No in-group bias was shown by fat people. Fatism appears to behave much like symbolic racism, but with less of the negative social desirability of racism.
Article
Full-text available
Two studies examined which traits males and females desire in partners at various levels of relationship development in an attempt to integrate evolutionary models (which emphasize sex differences) and social exchange models (which emphasize self-appraisals). In Study 1, male and female students specified their minimum criteria on 24 traits for a date, sexual partner, exclusive dating partner, marriage partner, and 1-night sexual liaison. They also rated themselves on the same dimensions. Sex differences were greatest for casual sexual liaisons, with men's criteria being consistently lower than women's. Men's self-ratings were generally less correlated with their criteria for a 1-night stand, as well. Study 2 replicated the findings of Study 1, adding several modifications, including a measure of Ss' sex typing. Sex typing had few effects. The advantages of combining social psychological and evolutionary perspectives are discussed.
Article
Full-text available
Master status people's behavior, physical appearance, or life circumstance is statistically unusual and centrally defining (e.g., the physically attractive, the obese, the intellectually gifted, the facially scarred, the talented, the athletic, Blacks, gays, the wealthy, rape and incest victims). These individuals were paired with people without such conditions. Each pair was left alone on a pretext and covertly videotaped. Pairs were then separated; each member spontaneously recalled information about her partner and the experimental room and provided a record of her thoughts and feelings during the interaction. As hypothesized, all master status Ss were particularly likely to be mindful in social interactions; they recalled detailed information about the situation and often took their partner's perspective during the interaction. The positive or negative connotations of the master status conditions were irrelevant in predicting Ss cognitions (mindfulness) but were critical in determining Ss behaviors (interaction strategies).
Article
Full-text available
We approach disgust as a food-related emotion and define it as revulsion at the prospect of oral incorporation of offensive objects. These objects have contamination properties; if they even briefly contact an otherwise acceptable food, they tend to render it inedible. Drawing on sources from many cultures, we explore the implications of this perspective on disgust. Some of the issues we consider are the nature of the objects of disgust and why they are virtually all of animal origin, the meaning of oral incorporation, the “belief” that people take on the properties of the foods they eat, and the nature of the contamination response and its relation to the laws of sympathetic magic (similarity and contagion). We consider the ontogeny of disgust, which we believe develops during the first 8 years of life. We explore the idea that feces, the universal disgust object, is also the first, and we examine the mechanisms for the acquisition of disgust. We recommend disgust as an easily studiable emotion, a model for cognitive-affective linkages, and a model for the acquisition of values and culture.
Article
Full-text available
Keeping track of needs in communal and exchange relationships was investigated in two experiments. In both, subjects could check to see if another person needed help. The first experiment tested the hypotheses that (a) When there is no opportunity for the other to reciprocate in kind, keeping track of the other's needs will be greater if the person desires a communal relationship with the other than if the person desires an exchange relationship with the other. (b) If the person desires an exchange relationship with the other, keeping track of the other's needs will be greater when an opportunity for the other to reciprocate in kind exists than when it does not. (c) If a communal relationship is desired, the existence of an opportunity for the other to reciprocate in kind will not influence keeping track of the other's needs. The results of the first experiment supported all three hypotheses. The second experiment tested and found support for the hypothesis that even when nothing can be done to help the other, keeping track of the other's needs will be greater if a communal relationship is desired with the other than if an exchange relationship is desired.
Article
Full-text available
Attributing negative outcomes to prejudice and discrimination may protect the mood and self-esteem of some stigmatized groups. Thus, the overweight may be low in self-esteem because they blame their weight, but not the attitudes of others, for negative outcomes based on their weight. In an experiment, 27 overweight and 31 normal weight college women received either positive or negative social feedback from a male evaluator. Relative to other groups, overweight women who received negative feedback attributed the feedback to their weight but did not blame the evaluator for his reaction. This attributional pattern resulted in more negative mood for these overweight women in comparison with other groups. Dimensions of stigma that may account for differences in the tendency to attribute negative outcomes to prejudice, and implications of these findings for weight loss programs and psychotherapy for the overweight, are discussed.
Book
Race in the Making provides a new understanding of how people conceptualize social categories and shows why this knowledge is so readily recruited to create and maintain systems of unequal power. Hirschfeld argues that knowledge of race is not derived from observations of physical difference nor does it develop in the same way as knowledge of other social categories. Instead, his central claim is that racial thinking is the product of a special-purpose cognitive competence for understanding and representing human kinds. The book also challenges the conventional wisdom that race is purely a social construction by demonstrating that a common set of abstract principles underlies all systems of racial thinking, whatever other historical and cultural specificities may be associated with them. Starting from the commonplace observation that race is a category of both power and the mind, Race in the Making directly tackles this issue. Through a sustained exploration of continuity and change in the child's notion of race and across historical variations in the race concept, Hirschfeld shows that a singular commonsense theory about human kinds constrains the way racial thinking changes, whether in historical time or during childhood. After surveying the literature on the development of a cultural psychology of race, Hirschfeld presents original studies that examine children's (and occasionally adults') representations of race. He sketches how a jointly cultural and psychological approach to race might proceed, showing how this approach yields new insights into the emergence and elaboration of racial thinking. Bradford Books imprint
Article
The purpose of this pilot study was to determine if greater physical distance existed between a person with a visible physical stigma and non-disabled persons than existed between persons without a visible disability. A significant ( p < .05) movement away from the person with a disability was found. The results suggest the possibility of using physical distance as a criterion measure for stigma.