Effect of Behavioral Immune System on Misogyny

Abstract

In recent years, the phenomenon of misogyny has proliferated and is often a hot topic frequently appearing in the public eye. Whether it is malicious comments against women made anonymously by male Internet users online or real-life violence against women, it has generated widespread public attention and lively debate and has further exacerbated gender antagonism. In the current research, with reference to the statement of Chizuko Ueno (2010) and Kate Manne (2017), misogyny is not the simple hatred toward all women in general in its real meaning, but a means to maintain a stable patriarchal gender order through despising and undermining women as well as through tough attitudes and behaviors targeting the “bad women” who challenge men’s dominance.

Notably, violence against women has increased dramatically worldwide during the current global epidemic of COVID-19, suggesting that there may be a correlation between the disease environment and men's misogynistic attitudes.

Therefore, the current research aimed to carry out serial studies to explore the influence of disease threat on men’s misogyny and the psychological mechanism behind this connection within the framework of the behavioral immune theory. The current research conducted 8 studies, including 4 questionnaire surveys and 4 experiments, to explore the relationship between the behavioral immune function and hegemonic masculinity as well as misogyny with several samples of adult men. The first part consists of three studies, focusing on the relationship between individual differences in the behavioral immune strength (i.e., perceived vulnerability to disease, perceived infectability, germ aversion, and disgust sensitivity) and the endorsement of hegemonic masculine norms (i.e., power over women, winning, heterosexual self-presentation), and the mediating mechanism of social conservatism (i.e., social dominance orientation, vertical collectivism, and conservatism) among men.

Study 1 investigated whether the BIS strengths were positive associated with hegemonic masculinity with the mediator of social dominance orientation, which was one of the most commonly used indicators of social conservatism. Study 2 examined the mediation mechanism between the BIS and hegemonic masculinity with another social conservatism indicator, vertical collectivism. Given that Study 1 and Study 2 used indirect measurement of social conservatism, Study 3 examined the mediation mechanism between the BIS and hegemonic masculinity with the direct measurement of conservatism. Results of the Studies 1, 2, and 3 indicated that the chronic traits in the behavioral immune function might be positively correlated with men’s endorsement of hegemonic masculinity (especially the norm of power over women) directly or indirectly via the mediation of social conservatism (i.e., social dominance orientation, vertical collectivism, and conservatism).

The second part includes five studies, extending the investigation to the influence of the BIS on misogyny among men. Study 4 investigated whether the BIS strengths were positive associated with hostile sexism with the mediation of the adoption of hegemonic masculine norms among men. Results showed that the BIS strengths were associated with more endorsement of hegemonic masculine norms (especially the power over women norm), which was in turn correlated with stronger hostile sexism.

Study 5 conducted an experiment to examine the impact of disease threat on men’s prejudice-based hostile attitude toward women in general, with the priming manipulation of images with infectious cues. The results indicated that that the interactions between PVD-GA and experimental condition took a significant positive effect on men’s hostile sexism. Specifically, when primed with pathogen cues, male participants with a higher level of germ aversion tendency showed greater hostile sexism toward women.

Study 6 moved forward to separate two prominently opposite types of women, and investigated whether pathogen threat would increase men’s negative perception of “bad women” compared with “good women”. Results showed that the disease threat decreased men’s perceived likability and warmth toward “bad women” but not “good women”. That is, when primed with disease threat, men showed more negative attitudes toward women who challenge male dominance. Thus, the disease threat might increase misogynistic attitudes among men.

Based on Study 6, Study 7, and Study 8 applied a different experimental manipulation to further test whether the disease threat would increase men’s sexual aggressions and violence acceptance toward “bad women”. Results showed that disease threat increased men’s rape myth acceptance and violence acceptance toward “bad women”. Thus, the research provided further evidence that the disease threat might encourage more misogyny in terms of aggression acceptance.

To conclude, the behavioral immune function is positively associated with men’s endorsement of hegemonic masculine norms (especially power over women norm) through the mediation of social conservatism. Furthermore, the BIS may predict more misogyny among men. The findings of current research extended previous research of the behavioral immune function and its influence on individuals’ attitudes with a feminist perspective, which could offer a deeper understanding of the misogyny in the current society with epidemics and provide some enlightenments for strategies protecting women from violence.

Date of Award	28 Dec 2021
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	City University of Hong Kong
Supervisor	Nian Zhong (External Supervisor), Chau Kiu Jacky CHEUNG (Supervisor) & Xiaodong YUE (Supervisor)