ArticlePersonality and individual differences2020
Behavioral immune system linked to responses to the threat of COVID-19.
Article in Personality and individual differences, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 85 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
85 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The relationship between risk perceptions and negative emotions in the COVID-19: a meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Pooled it
- Proximity Contacts and Self-perceived Vulnerability to Diseases Among High School Students - A Preliminary Study.Human nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.) · 2026Article
- Inflammation is associated with greater social media use over face-to-face interaction, especially among individuals high in introversion or neuroticism.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Protective but Costly: The Impact of Behavioral Immune System Reactivity on Mental Health.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Mental health among Chinese university students during COVID-19: 28-month, ten-wave longitudinal study.BJPsych open · 2025Article
- Emotion regulation strategies and mental wellbeing among Chinese college students during COVID-19: the moderating roles of confinement and attentional bias.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- The perceived COVID-19 pandemic risk and mental distress in China: the mediating role of interpersonal trust and the moderating role of social cohesion.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Article
- The causal relationship model of factors influencing COVID-19 preventive behaviors during the post-pandemic era and implications for health prevention strategies: a case of Bangkok City, Thailand.BMC infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Article
- I Got it. Perceived Infectability and Germ Aversion after Covid-19 Infection.Clinical neuropsychiatry · 2023Article
- COVID-19 vaccination and the behavioral immune system: The newcomer and the old friend get along in preventing infection.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2023Article
- Predictors and motives for mask-wearing behavior and vaccination intention.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Coronavirus-Related Searches on the Internet Predict COVID-19 Vaccination Rates in the Real World: A Behavioral Immune System Perspective.Social psychological and personality science · 2023Article
- Mental Health Challenges during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- The Dark Side of Interpersonal Touch: Physical Contact Leads to More Non-compliance With Preventive Measures to COVID-19.Psychological reports · 2023Article
- Time-Series Trends of Depressive Levels of Korean Adults During the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic in South Korea.Psychiatry investigation · 2023Article
- An Eye Tracking Study Examining the Role of Mating Strategies, Perceived Vulnerability to Disease, and Disgust in Attention to Pathogenic Cues.Adaptive human behavior and physiology · 2023Article
- The scientistic worldview and its relationships with fear of COVID, conspiracy beliefs, preventive behaviors, and attitudes towards vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic in a Polish sample.Current issues in personality psychology · 2023Article
- Why people were less compliant with public health regulations during the second wave of the Covid-19 outbreak: The role of trust in governmental organizations, future anxiety, fatigue, and Covid-19 risk perception.Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) · 2023Article
25 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
People possess psychological processes that help them avoid pathogens, which is particularly important when novel infectious diseases (e.g., COVID-19) spread through the population. Across two studies we examined whether trait pathogen avoidance (operationalized as perceived vulnerability to disease; PVD) was linked with responses to COVID-19 and preventative behaviors. In Study 1, PVD was positively associated with stronger reactions to the threat of COVID-19, including increased anxiety, perceptions that people should alter their typical behavior, as well as reported importance of engaging in proactive and social distancing behaviors. In Study 2, PVD was again associated with increased anxiety, as well as more vigilant behavior when grocery shopping, fewer trips to the store, and fewer face-to-face interactions. These associations remained significant when controlling for the Big-5 personality traits. Although the two subscales of PVD (germ aversion and perceived infectability) were often parallel predictors, several differences between the subscales emerged. Germ aversion may be more associated with behaviors whereas perceived infectability with vigilance.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.