Behavioral immune system and trypophobia

Abstract

Pathogens, which are the source of infectious diseases, have imposed a strong selection pressure on human evolution as one of the most important causes of human death during the natural selection process. As a result of this, it is assumed that a variety of adaptations have evolved against infection threats and one of these adaptations is the physiological immune system. However, activation of the physiological immune system can be quite costly for organisms in some cases, and therefore it has been recently proposed in evolutionary psychology that an adaptive system called behavioral immune system may have evolved in association with the proactive functional processes against pathogen threats. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that a number of psychopathologies might develop as a result of maladaptive processes affecting the functionality of this system, and one of these psychopathologies might be trypophobia. Trypophobia refers to a psychological disorder in which individuals experience aversion and disgust at excessive levels toward clusters of small objects such as holes and bumps. Following this, the current review was established within the framework of three distinct goals. Firstly, this review aimed to discuss the evolutionary basis and mechanisms of the behavioral immune system. Secondly, the review aimed to discuss the characteristic features and the etiological explanations of trypophobia. Finally, the review aimed to discuss how potential changes in the behavioral immune system might lead to the development of trypophobia.