Belonging Motives and Pathogen Avoidance for Social and Non-Social Targets

We tested if excluded (vs included) people would differentially regulate disgust toward social and non-social targets. Included people high in pathogen avoidance reported greater aversion to disgusting non-social stimuli compared to disgusting social stimuli. This effect was not present in excluded people, suggesting an interplay between affiliative and pathogen-avoidance motives.