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Recontextualizing the Behavioral Immune System Within Psychoneuroimmunology Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences © 2014 American Psychological Association 2014, Vol. 8, No. 4, 235–243 2330-2925/14/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ebs0000024 Recontextualizing the Behavioral Immune System Within Psychoneuroimmunology Jason A. Clark Daniel M. T. Fessler University of Osnabrueck University of California, Los Angeles We believe that the concept of the behavioral immune system (BIS) picks out an important set of phenomena, namely, the relationships between the immune system and disease-avoidant psychology. However, our enthusiasm is tempered by the recognition that (a) there are unresolved ambiguities in the BIS concept, which has been used in a variety of (sometimes inconsistent) ways; (b) many types of phenomena it has been used to identify are already well characterized in other disciplines that have received inadequate attention by BIS researchers; and that (c) these disciplines offer a broader contextualization of the phenomena. We argue that the BIS concept should be recon- textualized within and integrated with such research programs. More specifically, we believe that the BIS should be set within the framework of psychoneuroimmunology. We consider several ways in which the BIS might be differentiated from psychoneu- roimmunology, arguing that none of these clearly sets the BIS apart. These include (a) the notion of the BIS a purely defensive, prophylactic response to disease threats; (b) the BIS as concerned primarily with disgust-related responses; (c) the BIS’s role in generating large-scale effects of pathogens on social structure; (d) the BIS as a primarily psychological, rather than a mechanistic, account of psycho-immune inter- actions; and (e) the BIS as a specifically evolutionary, rather than descriptive, approach to disease-avoidant psychology and behavior. We believe that centering BIS research within psychoneuroimmunology will better capture the value and novelty of BIS research, more accurately reflect the intentions of BIS researchers, and better advance their aims. Keywords: behavioral immune system, psychoneuroimmunology, ecoimmunology, disgust We believe that the concept of the behavioral BIS concept and it has been used in a variety of immune system (BIS) picks out an important set (sometimes inconsistent) ways, (b) many types of phenomena, namely, the relationships be- of phenomena it has been used to identify are tween the immune system and psychological already well characterized in other disciplines mechanisms that manage the threat of infectious that have received inadequate attention by BIS disease. We also believe that research con- researchers, and that (c) these disciplines offer a ducted using the concept makes valuable and broader theoretical contextualization of the phe- novel contributions to the larger field. However, nomena. We argue that the BIS concept should our enthusiasm is tempered by the recognition be recontextualized within and integrated with that (a) there are unresolved ambiguities in the This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. such research programs. More specifically, we This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. believe that the BIS should be set within the framework of psychoneuroimmunology (PNI). While neuroimmunology encompasses both Jason A. Clark, Institute of Cognitive Science, University peripheral and central nervous systems, and of Osnabrueck; Daniel M. T. Fessler, UCLA Center for Behavior Evolution and Culture, Anthropology Department, psychoimmunology focuses on the interactions University of California, Los Angeles. between specifically psychological variables Correspondence concerning this article should be ad- and immune function, PNI highlights the con- dressed to Jason A. Clark, Institute of Cognitive Science, tributions of the central nervous system, and the University of Osnabrueck, 28 Albrechtstrasse #417, 49069 Osnabrueck, Germany. E-mail: jasonanthonyclark@gmail ways in which the brain instantiates psycholog- .com ical constructs, and mediates interactions be- 235 236 CLARK AND FESSLER tween psychological variables and the immune The BIS As Disease Prophylaxis system. Its object of study is the psychoneuro- immune system (PNIS). Work in PNI was ini- As suggested by the term itself, the BIS en- tially largely restricted to how mental states can compasses the specifically behavioral compo- influence physical health outcomes, addressing nents of disease avoidance. There is a need for comparatively simple effects of peripheral im- a concept to refer specifically to the behavioral mune responses on psychology, and largely aspects of disease avoidance (i.e., an ethology concerned with “gross” nonspecific changes in of disease avoidance), especially in comparative both psychology and immune responses. How- studies under naturalistic conditions where the ever, especially in the last 15 years or so, the ability to measure and manipulate disease- field has grown enormously, and there is an related variables is limited (Nunn & Altizer, increasing recognition of the breadth and com- 2006). Some work that is frequently cited by plexity of the interactions among the immune BIS researchers falls into such a category (Hart, system and quite high-level psychological vari- 1990, 2011). However, as Schaller notes when ables, including the fact that such effects on introducing the term, the BIS would better be cognition can be highly specific, and not limited called the “psychological immune system,” but to general parameters. For example, the im- because that term was already in use, referring mune system has been linked to the cognitive, to a distinct set of processes (Gilbert, Pinel, affective, and behavioral aspects of a range of Wilson, Blumberg, & Wheatley, 1998), psychiatric disorders, either as a cause, effect, Schaller chose “behavioral” (Schaller, 2006,p. or both, including, for example, depression 97). Hence, the term “behavioral” is not re- (Janssen, Caniato, Verster, & Baune, 2010; stricted to ethology, but should be taken as Leonard & Myint, 2009; Müller, 2014; Schiep- referring to psychology more generally, as ers et al., 2005; Tanaka et al., 2012), and schizo- when psychology is called “behavioral sci- phrenia (Debnath & Venkatasubramanian, ence.” For example, Schaller and colleagues 2013; Mondelli & Howes, 2014; Müller & Dur- (Schaller, 2006; Schaller & Duncan, 2007; sun, 2011; Müller, 2014). As we shall see, work Schaller & Park, 2011) define the BIS as “a by BIS theorists adds to the catalogue of such suite of psychological mechanisms that (a) de- effects. tect cues connoting the presence of infectious While it is true that once we conceptualize pathogens in the immediate environment, (b) the BIS within PNI, the novelty of the contri- trigger disease-relevant emotional and cognitive butions made by BIS researchers will become responses, and thus (c) facilitate behavioral clearer, we nevertheless caution that we should avoid putting too much weight on the BIS con- avoidance of pathogen infection” (Schaller & cept, which should be seen more as a rallying Park, 2011, p. 99). point for multidisciplinary interaction, than as The term “behavioral” has another connota- identifying a novel system or discipline, a fea- tion in the BIS literature, namely as referring to ture that it shares with similar disciplines that psychological and behavioral defenses that have emerged alongside it, such as “ecoimmu- serve to avoid disease in the first place, short of nology,” discussed later. We consider several activating the physiological mechanisms of the ways in which the BIS might be differentiated classical immune system (CIS). This is perhaps from PNI, arguing that none of these clearly sets the primary way in which the BIS is distin- This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. the BIS apart. These include (a) the notion of guished from related immunological concepts. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. the BIS a purely defensive, prophylactic re- The BIS is nearly always described as providing sponse to disease threats; (b) the BIS as con- a first-line prophylactic defense against disease, cerned primarily with disgust-related responses; and this is presented as one of its primary ad- (c) the BIS’s role in generating large-scale ef- vantages, the idea being that whereas the CIS is fects of pathogens on social structure; (d) the merely reactive, engaged only once pathogens BIS as a primarily psychological, rather than a have been contacted, the BIS serves to avoid the mechanistic, account of psycho-immune inter- costs associated with CIS reactions to active actions; and (e) the BIS as a specifically evolu- infections. For example, Neuberg, Kenrick, and tionary, rather than descriptive, approach to dis- Schaller (2011) define the BIS as “a system ease-avoidant psychology and behavior. designed not to fight pathogens postinfection RECONTEXTUALIZING THE BEHAVIORAL IMMUNE SYSTEM 237 but rather to avoid infection in the first place” (recent illness) increased activation of the BIS in (p. 1045). the form of attention to and avoidance of per- However, this approach to differentiating the ceived disease threats (disfigured individuals). BIS is problematic. First, a large body of work Stevenson et al. (2012) found that activation of the tells us that the relationships between our psy- BIS via induction
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