Progesterone does raise disgust

Abstract

In the phase between ovulation and potential implantation of the egg, and especially during pregnancy, females downregulate their immune system to prevent it from attacking the (future) embryo, which is after all a half-foreign organism. Yet this adaptive mechanism, that is set off by rising progesterone, makes females more vulnerable to pathogens at those critical times. It has been proposed that, to compensate this depression of physiological immunity, progesterone reinforces behavioral immunity-by increasing proneness to disgust and hence active avoidance of infection-but evidence is inconclusive and indirect. Manipulating progesterone directly, a recent, crucial study on female mice's disgust for infected males came up empty handed. Here, reanalyzing these data in a more statistically sensitive manner, we show that progesterone not only raises disgust but does so in a way that is both significant and substantial.

Keywords: Allopregnanolone; Behavioral immune system; Compensatory prophylaxis hypothesis; Disgust; Infection; Mate choice; Pathogens; Progesterone; Social avoidance.