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Perceived vulnerability to disease: Development and validation of a 15-item self-report instrument
Abstract
a b s t r a c t Many phenomena in the realm of social cognition and behavior are influenced by the extent to which individuals perceive themselves to be vulnerable to infectious diseases. Existing individual-difference measures that might assess this construct are limited in their applicability. This article reports the devel-opment and psychometric evaluation of a 15-item perceived vulnerability to disease questionnaire, designed to assess individual differences in chronic concerns about the transmission of infectious dis-eases. Data from 1539 respondents revealed that the 15 items loaded on two internally consistent sub-scales. One subscale assesses beliefs about one's own susceptibility to infectious diseases (Perceived Infectability); the other assesses emotional discomfort in contexts that connote an especially high poten-tial for pathogen transmission (Germ Aversion). Additional analyses provide evidence bearing on the con-vergent, discriminate, and predictive validity of each subscale.
... Pazhoohi et al. presented participants with images of physically disabled and nondisabled individuals, and asked the observers of the opposite sex to rate how attractive they found each individual as a romantic partner. Participants then completed disgust (Tybur et al., 2009) and disease scales (Duncan et al., 2009) to test for how their ratings of attractiveness may have been linked to these measures. The findings failed to support the predictions of the behavioral immune system. ...
... To further explore the effect of physical disability, in the second study, another sample of participants were recruited and using a design similar to Study 1, they were presented with female nondisabled models or models with a disability (i.e., the prosthetic arm from Study 1 was removed). Moreover, in both the studies, the results were examined with regard to individual difference measures of pathogen disgust (Tybur et al., 2009), perceived vulnerability to diseases (Duncan et al., 2009), and concerns about contracting COVID-19. In line with behavioral immune system (Park et al., 2003;Murray and Schaller, 2016) we predict comfort ratings for disabled images will be negatively associated with individual differences in pathogen disgust, perceived vulnerability to diseases, and concerns about contracting COVID-19. ...
... The 15-item Perceived Vulnerability to Disease self-report instrument (Duncan et al., 2009) was used to measure individuals' chronic concerns about the transmission of infectious diseases. The answers were on a 7-point Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree), with https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2025.5 Published online by Cambridge University Press higher values indicating higher perception of vulnerability to diseases. ...
Derived from the disease-avoidance model is the hypothesis that people may direct negative cognitive and behavioral responses towards individuals with physical disfiguring conditions, including physical disabilities. Based on this proposal of a behavioural immune system, physical disability, a noncontagious physical disfiguration, may falsely activate cognitive disease-avoidance processes resulting in prejudicial or negative responses against individuals with physical disabilities. For the first time this hypothesis is put to the test by investigating whether ratings of attractiveness and comfort for a social interaction vary systematically with physical disability (Studies 1 and 2). In addition, we tested whether these ratings were associated with individual differences in pathogen disgust, perceived vulnerability to disease, and concern for contracting COVID-19. In Study 3 we overcame possible methodological limitations by employing a virtual reality environment and using both male and female models. A fourth study was conducted to extend the first two studies by using a more diverse set of avatars. Results from Studies 1 and 2 indicated that disability did not significantly impact comfort ratings for social interactions, although nondisabled stimuli were rated as more attractive. However, Study 3 showed that in a VR environment, participants preferred closer proximity to nondisabled avatars, regardless of gender, over disabled ones, a preference not mitigated by the presence of prosthetics. Study 4 replicated these findings with varied 2D avatars, showing that disability significantly affected both comfort and attractiveness ratings, with nondisabled avatars rated highest, followed by those with prosthetics, and finally disabled avatars. Despite these findings, the expected relationship between comfort ratings and individual differences in pathogen disgust or perceived infectability did not emerge, challenging the behavioral immune system hypothesis. The discomfort associated with physical disability may be more related to social stigma or 3 preconceived notions than to an innate disease-avoidance response. In conclusion, this research contributes to understanding how physical disability influences social comfort and attractiveness perceptions, challenging the behavioral immune system hypothesis and highlighting the role of social and cognitive factors in these judgments.
... Pandemics and infectious diseases have long been a significant threat to human health and well-being (Duncan et al., 2009) and, historically, managing people's wellbeing during outbreaks of infectious diseases and pandemics has been a priority for governments, organizations, and individuals (Ackerman et al., 2012). Statistics show that infectious diseases have caused more deaths than all wars fought in the 20th century (Ackerman et al., 2018;Pirages, 2005) with the recent COVID-19 outbreak being a global threat, with a total of 151,397,857 confirmed cases and 3,179,927 deaths worldwide, affecting 187 countries and regions (ARCGIS, 2020). ...
... Anxiety and nervousness may be a reaction to fear which, in turn, leads to avoiding the perceived threat to physical wellbeing (Oakes & Bor, 2010). Among other fears, individuals perceive themselves as vulnerable to infections and at risk of being contaminated with viruses (St€ urmer et al., 2017) and, therefore, experience the fear of being infected with contagious diseases, which have long been considered a threat to human well-being (Duncan et al., 2009). It also reflects the emotional unease that a person feels when a pandemic is spreading and one feels susceptible to potential transmission of disease (Duncan et al., 2009). ...
... Among other fears, individuals perceive themselves as vulnerable to infections and at risk of being contaminated with viruses (St€ urmer et al., 2017) and, therefore, experience the fear of being infected with contagious diseases, which have long been considered a threat to human well-being (Duncan et al., 2009). It also reflects the emotional unease that a person feels when a pandemic is spreading and one feels susceptible to potential transmission of disease (Duncan et al., 2009). Researchers tested the impact of fear of infection on people's support for restrictive policies during the Ebola pandemic and found that individuals who had a high perceived vulnerability to disease felt more threatened by Ebola and were more supportive of Ebolarelated health policies. ...
Plain language summary
Fear of being infected from COVID 19 enhances nurses willingness to comply safety measures
Maintaining safe and secure environment at hospitals has always been a challenging job. Nurses working in tertiary hospitals remain more focused in patients care that they sometime do not put focus on their own safety. However, this study that collected data from Pakistani nurses working in tertiary care hospitals found that during COVID-19 and increasing number of infection cases, nurses experienced higher levels of fear of COVID 19 infection. This fear of being infected by COVID 19 viruses in nurses and nurse managers’ emphasis on safety measures enhanced nurses’ awareness about the importance safety protocols that eventually fostered nurses compliance with safety protocols. This study also proposed that in order to enhance nurses safety consciousness, practical examples of importance of safety should be introduced. Safety behaviors should be promoted through training of nurses so that safety compliance may be achieved.
... The Perceived Vulnerability to Disease (Duncan et al., 2009) is a 15-item questionnaire assessing respondents' perception of their own health and concerns about transmission of pathogens. The questionnaire has two subscales: Perceived Infectability (7 items) and Germ Aversion (8 items). ...
... The internal consistency assessed by Cronbach's α was 0.755 for the overall score, 0.882 for the Perceived Infectability and 0.584 for the Germ Aversion. The internal consistency for Perceived Infectability was good and comparable with the original study (Duncan et al., 2009) and a previous study (Stefanczyk et al., 2024). For Germ Aversion, this value was slightly lower and considered poor, which will be noted while interpreting the results of this study. ...
... This is supported by the fact that the other subscale of the PVD, the Germ Aversion subscale, which is more related to protective behaviors and hygiene, has been shown to be positively associated with all three tactile experimental variables. Moreover, previous studies have shown disgust to be related to Germ Aversion more strongly than to Perceived Infectability (Brady et al., 2021;Duncan et al., 2009;Stevenson et al., 2021). ...
Disgust plays a significant role in pathogen protection, with research highlighting the distinct contributions of various sensory modalities to the complex disgust reaction. In our study, 113 participants touched 6 hidden objects, rating their tactile disgust, fear, and object characteristics. Participants also completed the Disgust Scale-Revised, the Three Domains of Disgust Scale (Pathogen domain), and the Perceived Vulnerability to Disease questionnaire; a subsample completed the Culpepper Disgust Image Set. Results showed high correlation of measured tactile disgust with existing questionnaire responses, thus demonstrating the utility of this single-modality approach. A significant role in varying disgust sensitivity elicited by different objects was played by slimy, sticky, and wet characteristics, often characterizing environments associated with pathogen presence, as well as by felt fear and the individual’s “animal reminder” disgust sensitivity. This study enhances our understanding of the tactile aspects of disgust and underscores the interplay between fear and disgust in pathogen defense.
... should be performed by those who are more vulnerable to diseases (Ackerman et al., 2018). Indeed, various studies demonstrate that subjective perception of vulnerability to diseases (PVD; Duncan et al., 2009) is a significant moderator of pathogen-avoidant behaviors (Faulkner et al., 2004;Park et al., 2003Park et al., , 2007Szymkow et al., 2021). Thus, in our study, we predicted that it can significantly moderate the frequency of active oral sex. ...
... Subjective perceptions of susceptibility to disease were measured using the Perceived Vulnerability to Disease Scale (PVD; Duncan et al., 2009). The scale comprised 15 statements (e.g., "I prefer to wash my hands shortly after shaking someone's hand") assessed on a 7-point scale (from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree). ...
... To test whether the indirect relationship between MVD and the frequency of engaging in active oral sex is moderated by the perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD), we used SPSS Process, macro model 7 (see Hayes & Rockwood, 2017). Along with our pre-registered plan of analyses, we run two separate moderated mediation analyses: one for germ aversion (GA) as a moderator and one for perceived infectability (PI) as a moderator (Duncan et al., 2009). ...
From the evolutionary perspective, maintaining a committed relationship is beneficial for reproductive success but involves risks such as losing a partner or infidelity. People typically prefer partners with similar mate value (MV) to avoid rejection. However, when a mate value discrepancy (MVD) arises, the partner with lower MV might employ mate retention strategies to maintain the relationship. This study investigated whether men with lower MV compared to their female partners used cunnilingus more often and whether this effect was mediated by their motivation to satisfy the partner. Additionally, it tested the moderating role of men’s perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD), predicting that men less concerned about disease would show a stronger link between MVD and cunnilingus frequency, given the health risks associated with oral sex. Data from 540 men in committed heterosexual relationships confirmed that a higher MVD—where the man's MV was lower than his partner's—led to more frequent cunnilingus, and this relationship was mediated by a greater motivation to sexually satisfy the partner. However, the moderating role of PVD was not confirmed. We explore the evolutionary perspective that men may perform oral sex on their partners as a mate retention strategy. This behavior potentially serves as a benefit-provisioning mechanism, compensating for discrepancies in mate value.
... Among the methods to measure individual differences in the BIS, Disgust Sensitivity and Perceived Vulnerability to Disease (PVD) are the most common methods to operationalize BIS sensitivity (Tybur et al., 2014). The current project utilized PVD (Duncan et al., 2009), which includes the subscales of Germ Aversion (i.e., dislike of situations involving pathogen transmission risk) and Perceived Infectability (i.e., perceived susceptibility towards infectious disease). ...
... A few studies have examined the connection between the BIS and sociosexuality. One study found that greater BIS sensitivity (i.e., germ aversion, perceived infectability) was associated with more restricted sociosexuality (Duncan et al., 2009), but other studies did not replicate the correlation between perceived infectability and sociosexuality (Mogilski et al., 2020;Prokosch et al., 2021). At an environmental level, in geographic areas that suffered higher levels of infectious disease, people reported more restricted sociosexuality . ...
... Eligibility criteria included residing in the United States and having a hit rate (proportion of completed tasks) of 95% or greater. The initial dataset consisted of 903 cases, but Amazon MTurk faced concerns regarding low quality and/or automated responses at the time of data collection (Bai, 2018;Dreyfuss, 2018). To reach better data quality, a conservative exclusion criterion was used. ...
Engaging in uncommitted sexual relationships increases the risk of pathogen transmission through close contact with novel partners. As such, greater disease avoidance tendencies may be associated with lower sociosexuality. Across three studies, we examined this proposition. In Studies 1a and 1b, we cross-sectionally assessed the associations between individual differences in disease avoidance (i.e., germ aversion, perceived infectability) and sociosexuality dimensions (i.e., behavior, attitude, desire). Greater germ aversion was significantly associated with more restricted sociosexuality across all three dimensions and replicated in both samples. Perceived infectibility was associated with more unrestricted sociosexual attitude and desire, but only in Study 1a. In Study 2, we tested whether sociosexuality levels changed with the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants reported more restricted sociosexuality levels during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to pre-pandemic levels, where a decrease was especially seen in sociosexual desire. Further, this decrease in sociosexual desire was predicted by pre-pandemic germ aversion levels. Overall, the findings indicate that disease avoidance tendencies (i.e., germ aversion) and real-life disease threat are associated with lower tendency to engage in uncommitted sexual relationships. Further research is needed to understand the causal relation of these two constructs, which may help in developing interventions and campaigns to support better sexual health.
... Measuring perceived vulnerability to infection necessitates assessing one's subjective sensitivity to both the physiological immune system and the behavioral immune system. The PVD scale is a measure designed to assess this subjective susceptibility to infectious diseases [24] . The PVD scale has been widely utilized in both clinical and research settings to understand how perceived susceptibility influences health behaviors and risk perception during pandemics [25] [26] . ...
... The PVD scale has been widely utilized in both clinical and research settings to understand how perceived susceptibility influences health behaviors and risk perception during pandemics [25] [26] . The PVD scale consists of two subscales: "perceived infectability," which assesses beliefs about one's own susceptibility to infectious diseases, and "germ aversion," which assesses emotional discomfort in contexts that connote an especially high potential for pathogen transmission [24] . The perceived infectability subscale contains seven items, measuring selfperceived vulnerability in the biological immune system's ability, while the germ aversion subscale includes eight items, assessing the sensitivity in the behavioral immune system based on aversion. ...
... By examining both perceived infectability and germ aversion, this study tries to provide valuable insights into how the COVID-19 pandemic has shaped subjective susceptibility to infectious diseases. Given the role of PVD in driving infection-preventive behaviors [24] [18] , understanding its long-term trajectory is essential for predicting and guiding public health responses in future pandemics. ...
The global pandemic triggered by the emergence of the highly contagious disease known as COVID-19 has brought about substantial shifts in the everyday lives of individuals across the globe. The present study aimed to elucidate the evolution of perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD) before, during, and after the pandemic by comparing PVD levels in Japan from 2018 to 2023. We analyzed longitudinal changes in perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD) using data collected in Japan across five time points (2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023). Data from 2018, 2020, and 2021 were obtained from publicly available datasets, while we collected data from 2022 and 2023 for this study. The results showed that although PVD (consisting of perceived infectability and germ aversion) increased significantly in the early stages of the pandemic in 2020, it decreased each year thereafter. By 2023, perceived infectability had declined to a level lower than in 2018, while germ aversion, although lower than in 2020, remained higher than pre-pandemic levels. This finding indicates a tendency to underestimate one's resistance to infection during the pandemic, while after the crisis abated, individuals tend to assess their resistance to infection more positively. In contrast, germ aversion continued to show a lasting effect, remaining elevated even three years after the peak. These results suggest that the pandemic may have introduced a dual effect: in addition to heightening sensitivity to infection prevention, it may have cultivated a sense of “overconfidence” regarding infection resistance. This overconfidence potentially contributes to a more relaxed attitude toward infectious disease risks, as individuals perceive themselves as resilient after enduring an unprecedented public health crisis.
... Measuring perceived vulnerability to infection necessitates assessing one's subjective sensitivity to both the physiological immune system and the behavioral immune system. The Perceived Vulnerability to Disease (PVD) Scale is a measure designed to assess this subjective susceptibility to infectious diseases [17] . The PVD scale has been widely utilized in both clinical and research settings to understand how perceived susceptibility influences health behaviors and risk perception during pandemics [18] [19] . ...
... The PVD scale has been widely utilized in both clinical and research settings to understand how perceived susceptibility influences health behaviors and risk perception during pandemics [18] [19] . The PVD scale consists of two subscales: "perceived infectability," which assesses beliefs about one's own susceptibility to infectious diseases, and "germ aversion," which assesses emotional discomfort in contexts that connote an especially high potential for pathogen transmission [17] . The perceived infectability subscale contains seven items, measuring self-perceived vulnerability in the biological immune system's ability, while the germ aversion subscale includes eight items, assessing the sensitivity in the behavioral immune system based on aversion. ...
... By examining both perceived infectability and germ aversion, this study tries to provide valuable insights into how the COVID-19 pandemic has shaped subjective susceptibility to infectious diseases. Given the role of PVD in driving infection-preventive behaviors [17] [13] , understanding its long-term trajectory is essential for predicting and guiding public health responses in future pandemics. ...
The global pandemic triggered by the emergence of the highly contagious disease known as COVID-19 has brought about substantial shifts in the everyday lives of individuals across the globe. The present study aimed to elucidate the evolution of perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD) before, during, and after the pandemic by comparing PVD levels in Japan from 2018 to 2023. We analyzed longitudinal changes in perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD) using data collected in Japan across five time points (2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023). Data from 2018, 2020, and 2021 were obtained from publicly available datasets, while we collected data from 2022 and 2023 for this study. The results showed that although PVD (consisting of perceived infectability and germ aversion) increased significantly in the early stages of the pandemic in 2020, it decreased each year thereafter. By 2023, perceived infectability had declined to a level lower than in 2018, while germ aversion, although lower than in 2020, remained higher than pre-pandemic levels. This finding indicates a tendency to underestimate one's resistance to infection during the pandemic, while after the crisis abated, individuals tend to assess their resistance to infection more positively. In contrast, germ aversion continued to show a lasting effect, remaining elevated even three years after the peak. These results suggest that the pandemic may have introduced a dual effect: in addition to heightening sensitivity to infection prevention, it may have cultivated a sense of “overconfidence” regarding infection resistance. This overconfidence potentially contributes to a more relaxed attitude toward infectious disease risks, as individuals perceive themselves as resilient after enduring an unprecedented public health crisis.
... To assess average disease avoidance motivation at the state and MSA level, we entered all items from several scales measuring disease avoidance and general disgust sensitivity (Duncan et al., 2009;Makhanova et al., 2023;Olatunji et al., 2012Olatunji et al., , 2007Olatunji et al., , 2009) into the Linguistic Inquiry Word Count frequency counter (Pennebaker et al., 1999), a tool showing the frequency of words in a body of text. We retained the most frequently occurring words (e.g. ...
... We chose the period of 1st January 2008 until 31st December 2012 because it temporally aligned with our other measures. For the final step, we correlated the relative interest of each word in a location with that location's germ aversion subscale score (i.e. a measure of how aversive one is to germs; Duncan et al., 2009: O'Shea et al., 2022. The germ aversion averages were taken from a sample of over 50,000 users who filled out the Germ Aversion subscale on the Perceived Vulnerability to Disease scale from the Project Implicit website, which were collated to calculate statelevel germ aversion averages (O'Shea et al., 2022). ...
... proje ctimp licit. net), participants also completed the Perceived Vulnerability to Disease scale (PVD scale) (Duncan et al., 2009). The PVD scale is a 15-item questionnaire aimed at measuring individual variability in perceived threat of infectious disease. ...
Anti-Black bias is a persistent issue in the United States. An increasingly influential view posits that pathogen stress may be a key driver, whilst experimental research suggests disease avoidance motives can increase bias. However, whether pathogen stress increases bias through increasing disease avoidance motives has not been demonstrated in population-based work. We use discrete measurements of prejudice and disease avoidance motives to test this relationship. Namely, we assess whether pathogen stress relates to anti-Black bias at the state and metropolitan level and whether this occurs through increasing disease avoidance motives. We first assess whether increased pathogen stress predicts Google searches for a common anti-Black slur and if this effect is mediated by disease avoidance motives. Results found such a mediation. We then test this relationship using implicit and explicit bias, seeing whether germ aversion mediates the effect of pathogen stress on both operationalisations of prejudice. Whilst results found germ aversion to be an important driver of explicit prejudice, the mediation relationship did not hold for most measures. Our work is the first to comprehensively test if disease avoidance motives may influence the relationship between pathogen stress and searching for anti-Black racial slurs and implicit and explicit bias. We discuss implications and directions for future work.
... For example, pathogen transmission over long distances and in huge populations is much easier in contemporary society (Ackerman et al., 2021). Moreover, modern social organizations and institutions generate new BIS response strategies that serve disease-avoidance functions through intragroup processes, which might or might not directly engage the core mechanisms based on disgust sensitivity or perceived vulnerability to diseases (PVD; Duncan et al., 2009;Terrizzi et al., 2013). Indeed, two variables that appear to pertain to pathogen sensitivity (vulnerability and previous infection) did not exert any effect in Study 1. ...
... Unfortunately, this interpretation must be taken with caution. The single-item measure of vulnerability assesses perceived infectability and the possibility of developing severe symptoms but does not capture the germ aversion aspect of PVD (Duncan et al., 2009). Additionally, very few participants (3%) reported having previously been infected. ...
... The current research is by no means a comprehensive investigation of the effects of BIS on justice standards. We did not delve into the relationship between the intragroup BIS mechanisms and the core BIS mechanisms based on pathogen sensitivity (Schaller & Murray, 2008) by measuring relevant constructs like PVD (Duncan et al., 2009) or germ aversion (O'Shea et al., 2022). However, research has questioned whether the PVD scores reflect actual immunological vulnerabilities (see Ackerman et al., 2018), and plenty of research following the BIS framework has examined responses to disease threats without measuring these indices. ...
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, authorities worldwide imposed coercive regulations aimed at curbing the virus’s spread, often at the expense of individuals who were considered potential threats to public health. We argue that individual differences in their support for such actions can be understood from the perspective of an evolved “behavioral immune system”. We conducted two studies within the context of the “zero-COVID” policy in Mainland China. Study 1 recruited 819 Shanghai residents during a strict citywide lockdown and found that individuals’ collectivistic orientation and personal control over their lives predicted their tolerance of injustices involved in disease-control measures. Moreover, the effect of psychological collectivism was enhanced by personal control. Study 2 ( N = 403) partly replicated these findings using hypothetical scenarios related to various fictitious viruses. Notably, the effects found in Study 1 only manifested in scenarios involving ambivalent pathogens, which are seldom fatal but highly contagious. Building on the functional flexibility principle of the behavioral immune system theory, we discussed the unique role of ambivalent pathogen signals in generating within-society variability and fine-tuning behavioral immune responses.
... The participants completed the Perceived Vulnerability to Disease scale (PVD) 25 , the self-assessment Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) 32 , and a brief demographic survey that included questions on age, age of the partner, gender, parenthood status, relationship status and duration, hormonal problems, number of years of completed education www.nature.com/scientificreports/ (M = 17.1 ± 2.39 in our sample) and self-assessed socio-economic status (SES; rated from 1 indicating much lower than the average in my country to 7, meaning much higher than the average in my country). ...
... PVD assessment. The 15-item PVD scale 25 comprises two subscales: (1) Germ Aversion, that focuses on emotional discomfort in contexts associated with high pathogen transmission (e.g., I prefer to wash my hands pretty soon after shaking someone's hand), and (2) Perceived Infectability which covers one's beliefs about own susceptibility to infectious diseases (e.g., In general, I am very susceptible to colds, flu and other infectious diseases). Subscale scores are computed as a total sum or mean score of all items belonging to the subscale. ...
... After reversescoring of indicated items the higher the score, the higher the perceived vulnerability to disease. The scale shows good convergent and discriminant validity, as the subscales correlate positively with health-related variables such as disgust sensitivity and general hypochondriacal fears and beliefs, but negatively with sociosexual orientation 25 . It also reflects gender, national, and cultural differences that align with existing research on disgust sensitivity, and the geographical differences in prevalence of infectious diseases. ...
Susceptibility to diseases and fear of infections might vary intra-individually, depending on life circumstances. The main aims of the current research were to examine whether perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD) is higher in expectant women and their partners as compared to their non-pregnant peers (Study 1), and to test whether a mother’s disease aversion during pregnancy relates to health of her newborn (Study 2). In Study 1 we collected cross-sectional data from 412 men and women varying in parenthood status. Pregnant female participants were more likely to exhibit higher levels of PVD as compared with childless peers, although mothers also reported relatively high PVD scores. PVD in men, generally lower than that of women, seemed to be rather independent of their parenthood status. In Study 2, a sample of 200 pregnant women completed the PVD scale during the second pregnancy trimester and a follow-up survey after their child was born. We found that PVD in pregnant women was not related to further health outcomes in their newborns. Birth weight, average Apgar score, and general health of a newborn were not associated with the pregnancy-period mother’s PVD score. However, the probability of giving birth to a child with 10 Apgar points was higher in younger mothers and tended to decrease with the increasing number of health issues before pregnancy. Overall, this research contributes to understanding of the health-oriented beliefs of expectant parents and parents of infants, but it also shows that the possible, PVD-related disease avoidance has a relatively little effect on basic markers of a newborn’s health.
... BMC Public Health (2025) 25:501 behavioral immune system, the likelihood of infection should diminish attitudes toward short-term mating and we don´t expected changes in long-term mating orientation [36]. Following this prediction, previous studies indicated that there was a negative association between short-term mating orientation and the perception of the risk of infection in humans [9]. Additionally, a crosscultural study revealed that in regions with a historically high prevalence of diseases, women reported lower levels of short-term mating orientation, which supports the proposal of the behavioral immune system [38]. ...
... This is consistent with evidence showing that single men show higher levels of STMO when compared to heterosexual men during the pandemic [42]. Regarding the perception of contagion risk and following previous evidence (e.g., [9]), we expected to find a decline in STMO in those individuals during the pandemic that showed high levels of perception of contagion risk. However, we did not find any effect in the expression of STMO. ...
Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic drastically changed people's lives. It had consequences at the individual and social level. The behavioral immune system predicts that when faced with the risk of contagion from pathogens, people tend to reduce their sociality, especially sociosexuality. We examine this prediction by evaluating decreases in the pandemic of the different dimensions of sociosexuality of young men (i.e., short and long-term mating orientation, sexual desire, and sociosexual behavior) and considering their relationship status (single or paired).
Methods and materials
We compared data from two cross-sectional studies carried out in the laboratory with convenience sampling methods in the pre-pandemic period (in the years 2016 and 2018 with a sample size of N = 463) and pandemic (face-to-face panstudy N = 234,data online, N = 182), considering possible differences between samples of the same period. We reached an N = 879 young men who answered a sociodemographic questioarticipants answered a sociodemographic questionnaire that inclnnaire and the Multidimensional Sociosexual Orientation Inventory. To test our predictions, we fitted general linear models.
Results
Results point to a significant decrease in long-term mating orientation in paired and single men, but only when compared with the pandemic face-to-face study. In addition, no differences were found for short-term mating orientation. For sociosexual desire (i.e., sexual fantasies), we found a reduction in single pre-pandemic individuals to be compared with the sample of pandemic online study. Finally, we found a decrease in sociosexual behavior (i.e., number of partners in the last year) between pre-pandemic samples and the pandemic itself, regardless of their relationship status and samples inside of each period. In addition, we carry out analyses with a reduced sample to re-test our predictions based on the perception of contagion risk (measured by a survey from OMS).
Conclusion
We find changes are maintained at the level of sociosexual desire and sexual behavior but mainly in those individuals with a greater perception of the risk of contagion. The hypotheses derived from the behavioral immune system regarding the decrease in sociosexuality in a context of risk of contagion by pathogens, as was the case in the initial period of COVID-19, are corroborated only in terms of desire and behavior, which suggests a certain stability in attitudes i.e., the menace of contagion modifies proximal aspects of sociosexuality, such as fantasies and behavior, but has no apparent effect on the calibration of the predisposition of individuals to varying levels of commitment in sexual relationships. These findings will allow us to understand better how the dimensions of sociosexuality (i.e., fantasies, attitudes and behavior) are affected when there are contexts of high risk of contagion, such as COVID-19. These findings will allow us to understand better how sociosexuality is affected when there are contexts of high risk of contagion, such as COVID-19.
... Participants completed a brief demographic survey, the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S), 43 the Perceived Vulnerability to Disease Questionnaire (PVD-Q), 44 the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), 45 the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), 46 the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), 47 the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder-Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), 48 the Alcohol Use Identification Test (AUDIT), 49 the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale-Revised (CESD-R), 50 and a visual analogue scale (VAS) that asked participants to indicate their level of worry about infection with COVID-19, worry and concern about infecting others, worry about hospitalization, and fear of death. ...
... Participants responded on a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from Strongly Disagree (1) to Strongly Agree (7). In an extensive psychometric examination, Duncan et al. 44 offered internal consistency estimates of 0.87 and 0.74. Robust internal consistency reliability for the PVD-Q has been documented in additional investigations. ...
Background
The acute mental health challenges faced by nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic have the potential to result in long-lasting psychological impacts. Promoting the mental health of nurses is crucial not only to safeguard their wellbeing but also to ensure the delivery of optimal patient care.
Objective
This study sought to ascertain the extended mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among nurses in South Africa.
Methods
Participants involved nurses working at four hospitals in the Western Cape province: Helderberg, TC Newman, Stellenbosch, and Tygerberg. A convenience sample of nurses ( N = 264) from the four hospitals participated in the study. Data collection involved an online survey, which included a comprehensive battery of psychological measures, such as fear of COVID-19, perceived vulnerability to disease, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), alcohol use, and worry about COVID-19 infection.
Results
The mean age of participants was 34.4 ( SD = 7.9), with a majority being female (82%). Age was positively correlated with hopelessness and life satisfaction but negatively associated with fear of COVID-19 and symptoms of anxiety, PTSD, alcohol use, and depression. Nurses in the private sector reported higher levels of alcohol use and PTSD than nurses in public, while married and partnered nurses reported reduced levels of anxiety compared to their unmarried counterparts. Higher education levels were associated with reduced adverse mental health outcomes.
Conclusion
Psychological distress among nurses was exacerbated even after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Potential areas of concern are highlighted, indicating the need for targeted interventions.
... Participants completed the following questionnaires: the Perceived Infectability Scale (PIS; Duncan et al., 2009), the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S;Ahorsu et al., 2022), the Sense of Coherence-13 Scale (SOC-13; Antonovsky, 1987), the Center for Epidemiological Depression Scale (CES-D; Radloff, 1977), and the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS; Beck et al., 1974). The assumptions for the statistical measures were assessed and satisfied. ...
... An example item of the PIS is: "In general, I am very susceptible to colds, flu and other infectious diseases." Duncan and colleagues reported an estimate of internal consistency of 0.84 for the PIS and provided evidence of convergent and discriminant validity (Duncan et al., 2009). Scores range from 7 to 49, and higher scores reflect higher perceived infectability. ...
Teachers’ mental health significantly influences their teaching effectiveness, job satisfaction, and student learning outcomes. It is therefore essential to understand the mental health implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for teachers and the factors underlying variations in responses to COVID-19-related stressors to promote mental health. The current study was conducted in South Africa following the resumption of conventional schooling in the context of the second and third waves of the pandemic. The study investigates the interplay between perceived infectability to disease, fear of COVID-19, sense of coherence, and indices of mental health. Correlational and serial mediation analyses were performed. Sense of coherence was found to mediate the association between perceived infectability and depression and hopelessness, respectively. These findings confirm that sense of coherence is a central resilience resource, and interventions aimed at bolstering sense of coherence may promote teachers’ well-being. Fear of COVID-19 was also found to mediate the association between perceived infectability and depression and hopelessness, respectively. Hence, fear of COVID-19 may be a mechanism through which perceptions of infectability influence mental health outcomes. Interventions that help teachers evaluate the extent to which their fears and perceptions of vulnerability are realistic or overgeneralized and identify strategies to increase their sense of agency may enhance coping.
... SNS can also be used to avoid fearful situations or to find psychological reassurance, which can lead to high social support. Infectious diseases can cause health-relevant anxiety and subjective vulnerability, and these psychological factors threaten well-being (Duncan et al., 2009). Anxiety and depression can be related to the strength of social connection by relational orientation (Rude & Burnham, 1995). ...
... The fear of COVID-19 (FOC) was defined by referring to indicators of fear and perceived vulnerability to infectious diseases in previous studies (Duncan et al., 2009;Ahorsu et al., 2020). Three items were measured as perceived physical risks of COVID-19 (Cronbach's α = 0.86). ...
To minimize the spread and fear of COVID-19, the South Korean government disclosed detailed location-based information about confirmed cases. Information regarding the confirmed cases was then maliciously distributed on social networking services (SNS). Few studies have investigated how the fear of COVID-19 and the disclosure of information in confirmed cases affect intention on online behavior, despite SNS being a space where people can express themselves with high social support. An online survey was conducted in South Korea. People who feared contracting COVID-19 had a negative perception of not only self-disclosure but also information disclosure by others. However, the perceived online social support could overcome the fear of infectious diseases and encourage active engagement to disclose information. The disclosure of information about confirmed cases impacted social support and self-disclosure intentions. This study contributes to the literature on information disclosure for public health purposes in the online environment during the fear of the epidemic. The world government and future social media platform companies should develop a specific process of information disclosure to manage the fear of public behavior.
... It has good internal consistency value. Perceived Vulnerability to Disease (Duncan, Schaller, & Park, 2009): This scale assesses individual differences in people's chronic concern over communicable diseases. It is divided into two subdomains that are Perceived Infectability (for 7 items; α = .82) ...
... Self-perpetuating based threatening about danger is called perceived vulnerability and this is developed due to the effect of high anxiety on self-irrational thoughts. Anxiety is a biopsychological cognitive state connected to an inability to regulate your emotional reactions to perceived threats or danger due to excessive interference of the thinking negative consequences of past or future events (Duncan, Schaller, & Park, 2009;Faulkner et al., 2004). Smith et al. (2015) For several disorders, including fatigue, anxiety, and depression, it is explicitly concluded that mindfulness-based stress control is an important therapeutic tool. ...
Traditional CBT engages the individual to emphasize discrepancy-based processing, whereas mindfulness-based therapy focuses on 'accepting' and 'allowing what is' mode, without any kind of immediate emotional stress to change. Mindfulness-based psychotherapies work on a deeper level, instead of clarifying each event into positive and negative, it allows to enhance the individual abilities to learn and observe their anxiety with kindness, and curiosity and become relaxed with being anxious. Ten individuals diagnosed with coronavirus phobia were taken from OPD of CIIMHANS, Dewada, Chhattisgarh. Amongst these, five individuals were randomly distributed in the experimental group (MBCT group) and control group (TAU group). The nature of the sample was purposive sampling. Outcome variables were measured by four scales, i.e., Fear of COVID-19, Perceived Vulnerability to Disease, HAM-A, and PGWBS. MBCT group was provided with the MBCBT therapy program. The therapeutic program consisted of approximately 16-22 sessions. Improvements were found after post-treatment in fear intensity, perceived vulnerability to infectibility and germ aversion, anxiety level, and psychological general well-being measures. Significantly reduced fear intensity, perceived vulnerability, anxiety level, and positive general well-being were also evident over time from pre- to follow. In conclusion, the present study suggests that MBCT helps people with coronavirus phobia develop higher anxiety tolerance, and emotional regulatory competencies to regulate irrational anxiety.
... • Vulnerability to disease: The scale statements were summed to derive a score for the two subscales, perceived infectability and germ aversion. If the score reached or exceeded 50% of the maximum possible score for each subscale, it was regarded as perpetuating psychological distress (Duncan et al. 2009). • Kessler-10: Ratings on the Kessler-10 were summed to derive a total score. ...
Background: Nurses are exposed to high levels of stress in the workplace. During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, levels of stress were exacerbated, impacting on nurses’ mental health.Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate psychological distress and resilience, and how nurses with different levels of education responded to stress.Setting: The study was conducted in three hospitals (a psychiatric hospital, a general district hospital and a dedicated COVID-19 hospital) in the Western Cape province, South Africa.Methods: A survey was conducted with frontline nurses (N = 167 [71.8%]) in three hospitals in the Western Cape using six validated self-administered scales.Results: Respondents reported high levels of moral distress related to time (3.42/6, ± 1.6) and protection during COVID-19 (1.3/3, ± 0.7). Mild-to-moderate levels of fear of COVID-19 (19.4/35, ± 8.2) and a moderate perception of vulnerability to disease (60.7/105, ± 19.9) contributed to nurses’ stress. High levels of psychological distress, especially during COVID-19 compared to current levels (27.2 vs 18.8; W = 8.9, p = 0.001), with high levels of resilience (73.2/88, ± 17.9) were reported. Enrolled nurses reported significantly higher levels of stress during the pandemic.Conclusion: Post COVID-19, there was reduction in the respondents who reported severe levels of psychological distress, highlighting the impact of the pandemic on nurses’ mental health and the need to build resilience.Contribution: This study enhances understanding of the factors that result in psychological distress in nurses and how nurses with different levels of education respond to stress.
... Inhon tunteen ajatellaan olevan osa behavioraalista immuunijärjestelmää, kokoelmaa psykologisia mekanismeja, joiden evolutiivinen merkitys on edesauttaa tautien välttämistä. Inhon tunteen lisäksi behavioraaliseen immuunijärjestelmään kuuluvat esimerkiksi tartuntoihin ja tartuntaherkkyyteen liittyvät ajatukset sekä mahdollisesti tartuttavien ja epähygieenisten asioiden välttäminen (Duncan, Schaller & Park, 2009). Vaikka behavioraalinen immuunijärjestelmä on kaikille yhteinen, on yksilöiden välillä eroja järjestelmän herkkyydessä ja reaktiivisuudessa. ...
Poliittinen ideologia on monimutkainen ilmiö, johon vaikuttavat monet kulttuuriset, sosiaaliset ja psykologiset tekijät. Poliittiset kysymykset, kuten oikeus aborttiin, sukupuolineutraali avioliitto tai kuolemanrangaistus, ovat usein pohjimmiltaan moraalisia. Intuitiivisten prosessien rooli moraalisessa päätöksenteossa on suuri, ja moraaliset intuitiot saattavatkin olla yksi vaikuttava tekijä poliittisen ideologian taustalla. Tässä katsauksessa tarkastellaan moraalisten intuitioiden yhteyttä poliittiseen ideologiaan kognitiivisten tekijöiden, inho- ja uhkaherkkyyden sekä sosiaalisesti motivoituneen kognition näkökulmasta. Moraalisten perustojen teoria määrittelee kuusi perustaa, jotka vaikuttavat yksilöiden moraalipäätelmien taustalla. Liberaalit ja konservatiivit eroavat siinä, missä määrin he käyttävät näitä eri moraaliperustoja. Kognitiiviset kyvyt ja kognitiivinen tyyli ovat yhteydessä eroihin niin moraaliperustoissa kuin poliittisessa ideologiassakin. Toisaalta konservatiivien ja liberaalien välisten erojen taustalla vaikuttavat myös herkkyys uhan ja inhon tunteille. Poliittisen ideologian erot selittyvät siis osin eroilla moraalisissa intuitioissa, jotka puolestaan liittyvät yksilöllisiin eroihin niin kognitiivisessa prosessoinnissa kuin evoluution myötä kehittyneissä uhkaavien tilanteiden ja tautien välttämisjärjestelmissä.
... required an explicit disgust rating from 0 = 'Not disgusting at all' to 4 = 'Extremely disgusting'. Finally, participants rated their perceived Vulnerability to Disease (VTD) (Duncan et al., 2009). The 15 items of the VTD included statements like "In general, I am very susceptible to colds, flu and other infectious diseases." ...
This study investigated the neural correlates of perceiving visual contagion cues characteristic of respiratory infections through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Sixty-two participants (32f/ 30 m; ∼25 years on average) watched short videos depicting either contagious or non-contagious everyday situations, while their brain activation was continuously measured. We further measured the release of secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) in saliva to examine the first-line defensive response of the mucosal immune system. Perceiving sneezing and sick individuals compared to non-contagious individuals triggered increased activation in the anterior insula and other regions of the neuroimmune axis, that have been implicated in the somatosensory representation of the respiratory tract, and further led to increased release of sIgA. In line with predictions, this contagion cue-related activation of the insula was positively correlated with both perceived contagiousness and disgust evoked by the videos, as well as with the mucosal sIgA response. In contrast, the amygdala exhibited heightened activation to all videos featuring humans, regardless of explicit signs of contagion, indicating a nonspecific alertness to human presence. Nevertheless, amygdala activation was also correlated with the disgust ratings of each video. Collectively, these findings outline a neuroimmune mechanism for the processing of respiratory contagion cues. While the insula coordinates central and peripheral immune activation to match the perceived contagion threat, supposedly by triggering both increased sIgA release and contagion-related cognitions, the amygdala may rather act as an alerting system for social situations with a heightened transmission risk. This proactive neuroimmune response may help humans to manage contagion risks, that are difficult to avoid, by activating physiological and cognitive countermeasures in reaction to typical symptoms of respiratory infection, which prepares the organism for subsequent pathogen exposure.
... In addition, based on research that demonstrate that age is closely related to the perceived likelihood of contracting COVID-19 and perceived COVID-19 threat of an individual [58][59][60], we measured perceived vulnerability to COVID-19 as a control variable. We used the perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD) questionnaire by Duncan et al. [61], which was translated and adapted for the COVID-19 context (1: strongly disagree, 6: strongly agree). ...
This study explored the relationship between the ingroup range of individuals and their willingness to assist various social groups during the COVID-19 pandemic and whether or not age moderates this relationship. A total of 291 South Koreans (Mage = 31.91 years, SD = 11.99) participated in an online survey and provided data on ingroup range, intention to provide help, and age. The results demonstrated that individuals with a broader ingroup range displayed a stronger willingness to distribute quarantine supplies for COVID-19 across diverse social groups (β = .12, p < .05). This finding aligned with the ingroup bias phenomenon, in which individuals tend to favor one’s group. Importantly, age moderated the association between ingroup range and willingness to help (B = −.19, p < .05). Specifically, the intention of younger individuals (θX → Y|(M = −11.985) = 4.40, CI = 1.79–7.01) and middle-aged individuals (θX → Y|(M = .000) = 2.14, CI = .31–3.98) to assist diverse social groups significantly varied according to their ingroup range, whereas no such relationship existed among older individuals (θX → Y|(M = 11.985) = −.11, CI = −2.64–2.42). We provided an in-depth discussion into the potential reasons that underlie the stronger willingness of older individuals to extend aid beyond their ingroup range during the pandemic compared with those of younger individuals. We then suggested strategies for encouraging acts of prosociality during crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which particularly emphasize the pattern observed in younger participants with a narrow ingroup range.
... Perceived Vulnerability to Disease Questionnaire (PVDQ) [72,73]. The PVDQ consists of 15 items measuring beliefs related to personal susceptibility to infectious diseases. ...
The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic seriously threatened the health and well-being of the population. This study aims to investigate the relevance of the COVID-19 pandemic on the stress, mental distress, and well-being of older people in Spain. The design was quantitative repeated cross-sectional. The sample was non-probability and consisted of 1436 persons from the general population divided into two groups: (1) the study group, composed of 718 women (61.3%) and men aged 60 to 89; (2) the comparison group, composed of the same number of women and men aged 30 to 45. All were assessed in three phases of the COVID-19 pandemic: the first pandemic year, the last pandemic year, and the post-pandemic period. The results showed that during the first year of the pandemic, the prevalence of mental distress was higher in older women (50%) than in older men (37.2%), while the rates in the comparison group were 57.2% for women and 53.2% for men. In the post-pandemic period, the rates of mental distress were 30.2% for older women and 29.8% for older men while in the comparison group, the rates were 48.5% for women and 26.5% for men. No significant differences in well-being were found between the groups or between the different phases of the pandemic. The most common stressors reported by older people were illness and death of family and/or loved ones, followed by personal illness. In the post-pandemic period, more stressful events and lower stress resilience were found to predict mental distress in older women and men. Greater perceived vulnerability to infection was another important predictor for women. Low self-esteem and younger age were also predictors of mental distress for men. High self-esteem, high social support, greater stress resilience and fewer stressful events were predictors of well-being for both genders. The results of this study are relevant for the design of policies, programs, and strategies to improve the health and well-being of older people.
... Evidências de validade baseadas na relação com as variáveis externas foram verificadas pelas correlações positivas e significativas com os construtos avaliados pelo DASS-21 (depressão, ansiedade e estresse) portanto, pessoas com medo grave de coronavírus/COVID-19 podem ser afetadas por esses distúrbios concomitantemente. As relações encontradas entre depressão, ansiedade, estresse e medo ao coronavírus/COVID-19 corroboram o descoberto em diversas pesquisas atuais (Ahorsu et al., 2020;Bakioğlu et al., 2020;Bitan et al., 2020;Soraci et al., 2020;Tsipropoulou et al., 2020) assim como com a literatura anterior que, indica que durante longos períodos de epidemias infecciosas, a saúde psicofísica dos indivíduos se vê afetada por estados psicológicos negativos (por exemplo, ansiedade, depressão e fobias) (Duncan et al., 2009;Pappas et al., 2009;Ropeik, 2004). ...
O presente estudo buscou adaptar e investigar as propriedades psicométricas da versão brasileira da Escala Medo ao Coronavirus (EMC). A amostra foi composta por 460 participantes brasileiros, com idades entre 18 e 89 anos (M=36,45, DP=12,47). Foi realizada análise fatorial exploratória (AFE) e análises de correlações com medidas de ansiedade, depressão, estresse e positividade para investigar evidências de validade convergente. A AFE confirmou a propriedade unidimensional da escala com índice de consistência interna Ômega de 0,872 e cargas fatoriais variando de 0,427 a 0,777 (exceto um item com carga baixa (0,177). Correlações fracas e positivas foram encontradas entre a EMC e estresse (r=0,264), ansiedade (r=0,177) e depressão (r=0,214); não encontrou-se correlação com positividade. Os resultados sugerem que a versão brasileira da EMC pode se configurar como uma medida útil para avaliação do medo ao coronavírus/COVID-19 na população brasileira.
Palavras Chave: coronavírus; COVID-19; medo; adaptação; evidências de validade.
... Disease Questionnaire (Duncan et al., 2009) to report the extent to which they had chronic concerns about the transmission of infectious diseases. The questionnaire comprised 15 items prompting participants to assess their perceived susceptibility to disease using a 5-point Likert scale (e.g., "I generally feel highly prone to catching colds, flu, and other infections"; 1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree). ...
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a functional gastrointestinal disorder (FGID) characterized by alterations in bowel habits without biological markers. Many patients diagnosed with IBS report experiencing stigma of their condition due to the negative social implications of IBS and the illness historically viewed as psychosomatic. The literature addresses how IBS influences the experiences of patients and their perceptions of stigma; however, less research has focused on the perspective of observers, and even less on the visibility of IBS- namely, the social taboo surrounding bowel dysfunction, and how it affects reactions and decisions toward individuals with IBS, specifically in the context of romantic relationships. The current investigation evaluated the effect of the partner’s IBS visibility and diagnosis on four types of reactions towards dating partners with the disorder in a non-clinical sample of adults: 1) perceived stigma, 2) endorsed stereotypes, 3) affective states, and 4) behavioral responses. Additionally, the study explored partner gender differences and their role in shaping these reactions under visible and diagnosis aspects of the condition. Participants (N=435) were randomly assigned to one of four hypothetical dating scenarios that manipulated the visibility and diagnosis of the IBS dating partner. Subsequently, participants reported the gender of their hypothetical partner and reactions regarding their relationship with the partner. The findings from successfully manipulated participants revealed that neither the partner’s diagnosis nor gender had significantly influenced the level of stigma participants had for the partner. However, the visibility of their condition significantly increased perceived stigma and negative stereotyping, affective states, and behavioral reactions towards the IBS dating partner, with these reactions being stronger when the partner had no diagnosis. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
... After giving consent, participants are presented with items measuring reactiveness to pathogens, pathogen disgust (Tybur et al., 2009), perceived vulnerability to diseases (Duncan et al., 2009), and moral foundations (Graham et al., 2011). In addition, we measured ethnocentrism (Neuliep, 2002) and attitudes towards immigrants for an exploratory purpose, in Study 1 and Study 2, respectively. ...
Previous studies on psychological adaptations to pathogen threats revealed the link between pathogen psychology and group behavior, especially in-group-oriented mindsets such as conformity, and the endorsement of group binding moral values. The relationship between behavioral immune responses and in-group attitudes has been mostly discussed in relation to the adaptive strategy to avoid pathogens. Yet, there is the other side of the behavioral immune system: reactive defense against pathogens (e.g., soliciting social support from others). By operationally defining in-group-oriented mindsets as the endorsement of group binding moral values, we explored how the tendencies to avoid diseases and minimize the negative influences of contracted diseases were each related to in-group-oriented mindsets in two countries (Study 1: the UK, N = 645; Study 2: Japan, N = 651). We found that the endorsement of group binding moral values was robustly associated with the latter but not with the former, suggesting that the reactive side of pathogen psychology may play an important role in shaping in-group-oriented mindsets.
... Perceived infectability was measured by an abbreviated version of the previously validated scale by Duncan and colleagues (Duncan et al., 2009). Participants were asked to include their level of agreement with five on a five-point Likert scale (1= fully disagree to 5= fully agree). ...
Utila, a Honduran Bay Island, has an economy reliant on tourism, which has been severely impacted by travel restrictions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Resulting stressors may further impact how individuals respond to the pandemic by affecting perceptions of future prospects, and the value of investment into health behaviors. However, individuals differ in both perceived threat from infection and perceived ability to affect personal health, referred to as the health locus of control, which past studies have associated with differential uptake of health treatment and prevention. Here, we examine perceived infectability and health locus of control measures, and whether these relate to discounting of future outcomes and uptake of infection prevention behaviors such as the use of personal protective equipment (PPE). Interviews were conducted with heads of household (age: 17-83, N=292) during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (August-October of 2020). Results were analyzed by constructing a path analysis model. While perceived infectability positively predicted PPE usage, having an internal locus of control negatively predicted perceived infectability and was a strong negative predictor of PPE usage. This finding is opposite to our predictions and may suggest that those with an internal locus of control perceive that they can avoid illness without using PPE. Additionally, consistent with this, perceived infectability, belief in the role of chance in health, and higher internal locus of control all predicted more pandemic-related future discounting. Our results suggest that for residents of Utila, personal factors predict differential responses to pandemic-associated threats.
... The rapid spread of COVID-19 has had severe consequences on the health systems and economies of many countries [4,5,6]. In addition to overwhelming health infrastructure, human resources, and equipment, COVID-19 and other infectious disease outbreaks have been linked to psychological challenges, including anxiety, that negatively impact the general health and well-being of populations [7,8]. ...
Background Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, both lives and livelihoods have been profoundly impacted, particularly in the healthcare sector. In Ghana, healthcare workers have faced an increased risk of contracting the virus and its potentially fatal consequences due to their close contact with infected patients, leading to significant mental and emotional distress. This study assesses the risk of exposure and the psychological impact of COVID-19 on healthcare workers at the primary level in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Methods The study employed a cross-sectional design, collecting data from 97 healthcare workers in primary health facilities within the Greater Accra Region. Mental health conditions were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire 9-item, the Impact Event Scale 6-item and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale. To assess healthcare workers' risk of exposure to COVID-19, participants responded to a set of questions based on the WHO’s cardinal symptoms of the virus. Data were analysed using STATA version 15, with results presented through frequencies, percentages, and both univariate and multivariate logistic regression. Statistical significance was set at 0.05, with 95% confidence intervals assessed. Results Healthcare workers experienced an increased exposure to COVID-19 and were at risk (82.5%) of contracting the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet mental health issues were significantly improved except for depression (71.1%) among healthcare workers. Family avoidance, alcohol use, and job categories (such as CHOs, public health nurses, and others) were significantly related to anxiety, depression, and stress among healthcare workers during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Family avoidance in particular was significant for both anxiety AOR = 8.17 and stress AOR = 25.71. Conclusion The majority of healthcare workers experienced increased exposure to COVID-19 and were at risk of contracting the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants in the age range of 30–39 years, Females, those with tertiary education, CHNs, and those with less than 5 years of working experience confirmed or felt depressed, anxious, and stressed among healthcare workers at the primary levels during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The health system must acknowledge the adverse psychological effects on primary healthcare workers and take practical measures to address them, such as ensuring the availability of PPE.
... Participants were prompted to indicate their agreement with each item on a seven-point scale, ranging from 'strongly disagree' to 'strongly agree'. Approximately half of the items were reverse-scored (Duncan et al., 2009). Higher scores on the PVDS suggest a heightened perception of infectability, germ aversion, or overall vulnerability to disease. ...
In the context of the formidable challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare professionals coped in various ways. This cross-sectional survey study sought to examine the protective role of satisfaction with life, sense of coherence, and resilience in the relationship between depression, social support, fear of COVID-19, and perceived vulnerability to disease among nurses in South Africa. Participants were a convenience sample of nurses ( n = 264) working at four South African hospitals in the Western Cape. Data were collected by means of an electronic survey and analysed using structural equation modelling. Participants completed a comprehensive battery of psychological measures. We found that while higher levels of fear of COVID-19 robustly predicted depressive symptomology among nurses, factors such as sense of coherence, and social support emerged as protective resources. These protective factors have the potential to alleviate the mental health impacts of pandemic-related stressors among nurses.
... This set of cognitive, affective, and behavioral mechanisms are thought to mobilize individuals to reduce the likelihood of contracting diseases [6][7][8]63]. When the behavioral immune system is activated (e.g., by perceived risk of infection or feelings of disgust) people perceive lower shared fate with others [5] and become less willing to cooperate [64,65] or even interact with potentially infectious others, especially outgroup members [66,67]. These findings are in line with the idea that people are more willing to engage in behaviors that put them at risk of infection with people they value than with those they do not value as highly [68]. ...
Did the COVID-19 pandemic bring people together or push them apart? While infectious diseases tend to push people apart, crises can also bring people together through positive interdependence. We studied this question by asking an international sample (N = 1,006) about their inclinations to cooperate, perceptions of interdependence (i.e., shared fate), and perceived risk as well as local prevalence of COVID-19 infection across 14 time points from March to August, 2020. While perceived interdependence with others tended to increase during this time period, inclinations to cooperate decreased over time. At the within-person level, higher local prevalence of COVID-19 attenuated increases in perceived interdependence with others, and was associated with lower inclinations to cooperate. At the between-person level, people with high perceived interdependence with others reported more stable, or increasing, inclinations to cooperate over time than people with low perceived interdependence. Establishing a high sense of perceived interdependence with others may thus allow people to maintain cooperation during crises, even in the face of challenging circumstances such as those posed by a highly transmissible virus.
... People's perception of risk is significantly and positively related to perceived similarity to persons at risk for the illness threat as well as to greater experience, whether direct or indirect, with the disease in question. Social cognition and behavior are influenced by the extent to which individuals perceive themselves to be vulnerable to infectious diseases (Schaller & Park 2009). Since infected individuals are not always perceptible directly, people rely on external cues such as behaviors indicating illness, or just the perception of out-group members as cues for infection or individuals with high risk of infections. ...
This study examined the relationship between perceived stress, perceived COVID 19 vulnerability and religiosity in face mask usage among undergraduates in higher institution within Ibadan metropolis.
A descriptive survey design was adopted for this study. The sample of the study consists of three hundred and sixty (360) undergraduates in Ibadan metropolis comprising (Males 161, 44.7% and females 199, 55.3%). The age ranged from 18 to 40 years with (M = 22.40 and SD = 3.73).
Results indicated that there was a significant positive relationship between perceived COVID-19 vulnerability and facemask usage {r (358) = 0.46, p<.01}. The result also revealed a significant positive relationship between perceived stress and facemask usage {r (358) = 0.43, p<.01}. It was also found that there was a significant negative relationship between religiosity and facemask usage {r (358) = -.36, p = p<.05}. Furthermore, there was a significant joint prediction of perceived COVID-19 vulnerability, perceived stress and religiosity on facemask usage (F (3, 355) = 61.95, R2 = 34; p<.05). Further results show that religiosity (β= .30; t= 6.79; p<.05), perceived Covid-19 vulnerability (β= .30; t= 6.44; p<.05), and perceived stress (β= -18; t= -3.92; p<.05), independently predict facemask usage among undergraduates. Additionally, there was no gender difference among young adults of Ibadan metropolis regarding their face mask usage. Result showed that there was no significant difference between male and female on their face mask usage t (358) = -1.01 p>.05). Lastly, there was no significant influence of level of study on facemask usage among undergraduates (F (4, 354) = 1.480; p = >.05). The findings indicated that the independent variables (perceived COID 19 vulnerability, perceived stress and religiosity) explained 34% variation in dependent variable (facemask usage).
The study concluded that there was a significant positive relationship between perceived COVID 19 vulnerability and face mask usage. The study also revealed that there was significant joint prediction of perceived COVID 19 vulnerability, perceived stress and religiosity on face mask usage among young adults in Ibadan metropolis. It is therefore recommended that Psychologist should intensify their effort to organize seminars/conferences on the appropriate and detailed method of practicability and acceptability of face masks usage among undergraduates.
... Motivation to sexually satisfy a female partner: four questions, i.e., "I prioritize my partner's sexual satisfaction over mine during sex" averaged to overall motivation α = .61) Perceived Vulnerability to Disease (PVD; Duncan et al., 2009). Measured as perceived infectability (PI, α = .82) ...
Heterosexual men's motivation to sexually satisfy a committed female partner through active oral sex can function as a strategy for mate retention and compensation for MVD among those with a lower MV compared to their partners. Specifically: The higher the MVD in favor of the female partner, the greater the frequency of men's engagement in active oral sex. The higher the MVD in favor of the female partner, the higher the men's motivation for sexual satisfaction of the female partner. MVD in favor of the partner predicts the frequency of men's engagement in active oral sex, and this relationship is mediated by men's motivation for sexual satisfaction of the partner. The relationship between MVD and the frequency of men's engagement in active oral sex is not moderated by PVD (neither germ aversion nor perceived infectability). Motivation to sexually satisfy a female partner as a mediator of a relationship between MVD and the frequency of engaging in active oral sex to a female partner (model 4 PROCESS; Hayes & Rockwood, 2017). The model is significant: F(1, 538) = 9.76, p = .002, R2 = 0.02 Frequency of oral sex on a female partner Motivation to sexually satisfy a female partner
... Studies before the COVID-19 pandemic found that short-term sociosexuality was negatively linked to the perception of the risk of infection in human beings (24). Moreover, a cross-cultural study found that in regions with historically high disease prevalence, women reported lower levels of short-term mating orientation, supporting the behavioral immune system proposal (25). ...
The COVID-19 pandemic drastically changed people's lives. It had consequences at the individual and social level, changing the way we relate to each other. The behavioral immune system predicts that certain constraints will exist in different aspects of sociality when faced with the risk of contagion from pathogens. In this paper, we examine the hypotheses specifically evaluating changes in the sociosexuality of young men. We compared data from two studies carried out by the laboratory team before and during the pandemic (in-person and online data by Qualtrics®). We reached an N = 879 young men who answered a sociodemographic questionnaire and the Multidimensional Sociosexual Orientation Inventory. The results we obtained point to a significant decrease in long-term sociosexual orientation but not in short-term sociosexual orientation, as we had predicted. In addition, we found a reduction in sociosexual desire (measured as sexual fantasies) and differences in sociosexual behavior (number of partners in the last year) between the period before the pandemic and the pandemic itself. In addition, we carry out analyses with a reduced sample to test our hypotheses based on the perception of contagion risk (measured by a survey from OMS). We find changes are maintained at the level of sociosexual desire and sexual behavior but mostly in those individuals with a greater perception of the risk of contagion. The hypotheses derived from the behavioral immune system regarding the decrease in sociosexuality in a context of risk of contagion by pathogens, as was the case in the initial period of COVID-19, are corroborated only in terms of desire and behavior, which suggests a certain stability in attitudes. These findings will allow us to understand better how sociosexuality is affected when there are contexts of high risk of contracting a pathogen such as COVID-19.
... The Perceived Vulnerability to Disease questionnaire (Duncan et al., 2009) contains 15-items which measure perceived susceptibility to infectious diseases (perceived infectibility) and emotional discomfort and behavioral avoidance towards potential pathogenic contexts (germ aversion). The perceived infectibility subscale contains 7 items; example items include: "In general, I am very susceptible to colds, flu and other infectious diseases". ...
A key theoretical component of the behavioral immune system is its functional flexibility, where an individual’s reaction to pathogenic stimuli is designed to fluctuate based on individual costs and benefits. For example, those who perceive themselves to be more vulnerable to disease or are in poorer health should react more aversely to possible pathogenic agents because of the higher costs of infection. To test this hypothesis, we collected measures of current individual health (i.e., self-reported general health and self-perceived infectibility) and three domains of disgust in two studies: an in-person sample of United States university students and a global online sample of diverse ages. We also collected and assayed saliva samples for secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA), provided by the university students. Results showed that lower sIgA and higher perceived infectibility independently predicted higher pathogen disgust. Poor self-reported general health was associated with higher pathogen disgust in the university sample, but not in the online sample. Finally, pathogen disgust mediated the effect of perceived infectibility on behavioral avoidance motivation. Overall, our findings support the functional flexibility of the behavioral immune system, such that those who are more vulnerable to disease are more likely to respond aversely to situations with high pathogen load; however, future research should consider other contextual factors which affect the strength of this relationship between individuals and populations.
Background: Most smoking among adolescents aged 15-19 years is associated with a psychosocial crisis, as they are still searching for their identity. Factors such as perceived vulnerability and perceived benefits can lead adolescents to start smoking. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between perceived vulnerability and perceived benefits and motivation for smoking cessation among adolescents. Methods: The research design uses an analytical observational design with a cross-sectional approach. The research sample consisted of adolescent smokers selected using a cluster random sampling technique, resulting in 136 participants. Data for variables were collected using the Perceived Vulnerability to Disease (PVD), Perceived Risks and Benefits Questionnaire (PRBQ), and Smoking Cessation Motivation Questionnaire (Q-MAT), which were modified by the researchers and tested for validity and reliability. The research data were analyzed using the Spearman Rank Test. Results: The results showed that 97.8% of participants had a positive perceived vulnerability, 97.1% had a positive perceived benefit, and 71.3% had a high motivation for smoking cessation. There was a significant relationship between perceived vulnerability and perceived benefits with motivation for smoking cessation, with a significant p-value of 0.000 and correlation values of +0.478 and +0.643. Conclusions: Adolescents' motivation to quit smoking is shaped by their awareness of health risks and the benefits of quitting, such as improved well-being and financial savings. Nursing-based interventions, including counseling, support groups, and school health campaigns, play a crucial role in reinforcing this motivation and ensuring long-term cessation.
Purpose
This paper aims to develop an integrative framework explaining how infectious disease cues influence consumer behavior by connecting evolutionary psychology and behavioral immune system literature with consumer research.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper synthesizes pathogen-avoidance psychology and consumer behavior research to identify three psychological changes (affect, cognition, motivation) influencing consumer responses, developing theoretical propositions across five domains while identifying boundary conditions.
Findings
Disease cues trigger changes in affect (disgust, anxiety), cognition (narrowed attention) and motivation (self-protection). These influence consumer responses across self-regulation, social behavior/identity, information processing, evaluation and prosocial/sustainable behaviors. The framework identifies boundary conditions moderating these effects.
Research limitations/implications
The framework advances understanding of disease threats’ influence on consumer behavior and suggests future research directions, including contextual effects and individual differences.
Practical implications
The framework helps marketers predict consumer responses to disease cues, offering insights for marketing strategies during health crises and normal times.
Originality/value
To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper provides the first comprehensive framework explaining disease cues’ systematic influence on consumer behavior through psychological changes, extending behavioral immune system theory into consumer domains.
The study aims to examine the impact of contagious disease cues and the government’s nonpharmaceutical interventions on customer sentiment related to perishable products with high touch frequency such as fresh fruits during a pandemic. Through social media analytics 659,537 individual tweets were collected from Twitter, by users based in two major cities in Australia (one of two major cities is the world’s longest COVID-19 lockdown). Our findings suggest that in general contagious disease cues will negatively affect consumer sentiment about fresh produce, and this effect is moderated by government interventions. In particular, except for customer sentiment related to the use of chemicals, daily case numbers had a significant negative impact on customer sentiment related to freshness, healthiness and contamination in both Sydney and Melbourne. Compared to contagious disease cues, the effect of government interventions is less consistent between Sydney and Melbourne. The findings offer significant implications for marketers and policymakers to effectively adapt to emerging customer demands and expectations. The results also confirm the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions, specifically lockdowns, in mitigating the negative effect of contagious disease cues on customer sentiment.
The concept of implicit bias – the idea that the unconscious mind might hold and use negative evaluations of social groups that cannot be documented via explicit measures of prejudice – is a hot topic in the social and behavioral sciences. It has also become a part of popular culture, while interventions to reduce implicit bias have been introduced in police forces, educational settings, and workplaces. Yet researchers still have much to understand about this phenomenon. Bringing together a diverse range of scholars to represent a broad spectrum of views, this handbook documents the current state of knowledge and proposes directions for future research in the field of implicit bias measurement. It is essential reading for those who wish to alleviate bias, discrimination, and inter-group conflict, including academics in psychology, sociology, political science, and economics, as well as government agencies, non-governmental organizations, corporations, judges, lawyers, and activists.
The global pandemic triggered by the emergence of the highly contagious disease known as COVID-19 has brought about substantial shifts in the everyday lives of individuals across the globe. The present study aimed to elucidate the evolution of perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD) before, during, and after the pandemic by comparing PVD levels in Japan from 2018 to 2023. We analyzed longitudinal changes in perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD) using data collected in Japan across five time points (2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023). Data from 2018, 2020, and 2021 were obtained from publicly available datasets, while we collected data from 2022 and 2023 for this study. The results showed that although PVD (consisting of perceived infectability and germ aversion) increased significantly in the early stages of the pandemic in 2020, it decreased each year thereafter. By 2023, perceived infectability had declined to a level lower than in 2018, while germ aversion, although lower than in 2020, remained higher than pre-pandemic levels. This finding indicates a tendency to negative estimate one's resistance to infection during the pandemic, while after the crisis abated, individuals tend to assess their resistance to infection more positively. In contrast, germ aversion continued to show a lasting effect, remaining elevated even three years after the peak. These results suggest that the pandemic may have introduced a dual effect: in addition to heightening sensitivity to infection prevention, it may have cultivated a sense of “overconfidence” regarding infection resistance. This overconfidence potentially contributes to a more relaxed attitude toward infectious disease risks, as individuals perceive themselves as resilient after enduring an unprecedented public health crisis.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, both lives and livelihoods have been profoundly impacted, particularly in the healthcare sector. In Ghana, healthcare workers have faced an increased risk of contracting the virus and its potentially fatal consequences due to their close contact with infected patients, leading to significant mental and emotional distress. This study assesses the risk of exposure and the psychological impact of COVID-19 on healthcare workers at the primary level in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana.
The study employed a cross-sectional design, collecting data from 97 healthcare workers in primary health facilities within the Greater Accra Region. Mental health conditions were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire 9-item, the Impact Event Scale 6-item and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale. To assess healthcare workers' risk of exposure to COVID-19, participants responded to a set of questions based on the WHO’s cardinal symptoms of the virus. Data were analysed using STATA version 15, with results presented through frequencies, percentages, and both univariate and multivariate logistic regression. Statistical significance was set at 0.05, with 95% confidence intervals assessed.
Healthcare workers experienced an increased exposure to COVID-19 and were at risk (82.5%) of contracting the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet mental health issues were significantly improved except for depression (71.1%) among healthcare workers. Variables such as family avoidance (physical) (p < 0.01; p < 0.00), alcohol use (p < 0.02), and job categories (such as community health officers (CHOs) (p < 0.04), public health nurses (p < 0.00), and other categories (p < 0.03)) were significantly related to anxiety, depression, and stress among healthcare workers during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Family avoidance (physical) in particular was significant for both anxiety AOR = 8.17 and stress AOR = 25.71.
The majority of healthcare workers experienced increased exposure to COVID-19 and were at risk of being infected by the COVID-19 virus. The health system must acknowledge the adverse psychological effects on primary healthcare workers and take practical measures to address them, such as ensuring the availability of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
Consumer food waste, with its extensive social, economic, and environmental implications, gained heightened attention during the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted food supply chains and exacerbated food insecurity. Amidst conflicting reports on the pandemic’s influences on consumer-level food waste, this research differentiates between the infection and lockdown facets of a pandemic. Specifically, we demonstrate that infection salience amplifies safety-health concerns, leading to increased consumer food waste, while lockdown salience raises concerns over resource scarcity, resulting in reduced consumer food waste. Considering most pandemics or infectious diseases primarily increase infection salience without inducing lockdowns, we propose a safety-health intervention to mitigate the rise in consumer food waste driven by infection salience and the associated safety-health concerns. Through a large-scale field study, a lab experiment measuring real food waste, a country-level secondary dataset, and three supplementary experiments, we provide converging supports for our theory. These studies also showcase various implementations of the safety-health intervention, such as table tents, napkins, and to-go boxes. This research reconciles divergent perspectives on the pandemic’s impact on consumer-level food waste, enriches the understanding of pandemics and associated food waste dynamics, and offers actionable strategies for businesses and policymakers to address consumer food waste during pandemics.
This study investigated the impact of family financial status on Chinese children’s health-related traits and their behavior in controlling COVID-19. When the children were 7 years old, their guardians provided information on family financial status. When the children reached 10 years old, they completed questionnaires concerning their own health consciousness and health status. At age 11, during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, they filled out questionnaires on perceived vulnerability to disease and disease control behavior. The findings revealed that higher health consciousness is associated with better health, particularly among children from financially challenged families. Additionally, a greater perception of vulnerability to disease is linked to increased COVID-19 control behaviors, particularly in children with high health consciousness in affluent families. These results contribute to our understanding of how children’s personal health-related traits and family financial status interact to shape their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic posed a significant impact on employees' work outcomes worldwide. However, it remains unclear whether some employees fared worse than others when facing work-related health threats and what role individual differences in vulnerability to disease played in shaping their work experiences. Integrating the evolutionary psychology perspective of the behavioral immune system with Job Demands-Resources Theory, we argue that a fundamental factor in how employees dealt with these threats was the extent to which they perceived themselves as vulnerable to infectious diseases. Employees with higher susceptibility to infectious diseases were predicted to experience heightened workplace safety concerns and engage less with their work. In addition, a health-oriented leadership style was expected to decrease employees' safety concerns and increase their work engagement, especially for the more vulnerable employees. To test hypotheses, we conducted a three-wave field survey and two vignette-based experiments on working adults in the United Kingdom at different stages of the pandemic. Results largely supported our predictions, revealing that employees who felt more vulnerable to infectious diseases were more concerned about their workplace safety, inhibiting their work engagement. We discuss these findings' theoretical and practical implications for promoting a safe and healthy post-pandemic workplace, especially for vulnerable employees.
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased germ aversion, an aversive affective response to a high likelihood of pathogen transmission. While psychological factors are associated with chronic pain, the relationship between germ aversion and chronic pain remains unexplored. This study aimed to examine the relationship between germ aversion and new-onset and prognosis of chronic pain using longitudinal data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted web-based surveys of full-time workers at baseline and after three months. Data were collected on demographic characteristics, psychological factors, and chronic pain. Germ aversion was assessed using a modified Perceived Vulnerability to Disease scale. We analyzed responses from 1265 panelists who completed the survey twice. The prevalence of chronic low back pain (CLBP) and chronic neck and shoulder pain (CNSP) was associated with sex, short sleep duration, psychological distress, loneliness, and germ aversion. Stratified analyses showed that germ aversion was a risk factor for CLBP at three months in both individuals with and without CLBP at baseline, and for CNSP at three months in those with CNSP at baseline, even after adjustment for confounders. In conclusion, this preliminary study suggests that high germ aversion is a risk factor for CLBP and CNSP in young and middle-aged workers.
Individual differences in the desire for simple structure may influence how people understand, experience, and interact with their worlds. Studies 1 and 2 revealed that the Personal Need for Structure (PNS) scale (M. Thompson, M. Naccarato, and K. Parker, 1989) possesses sufficient reliability and convergent and discriminant validity. In Studies 3–5, Ss high in PNS were especially likely to organize social and nonsocial information in less complex ways, stereotype others, and complete their research requirements on time. These data suggest that people differ in their chronic desire for simple structure and that this difference can have important social–cognitive and behavioral implications. A consideration of chronic information-processing motives may facilitate the theoretical integration of social cognition, affect, motivation, and personality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Developed and validated the Need for Cognition Scale (NCS). In Study 1, a pool of items was administered to 96 faculty members (high-need-for-cognition group) and assembly line workers (low-need-for-cognition group). Ambiguity, irrelevance, and internal consistency were used to select items for subsequent studies. Factor analysis yielded one major factor. In Study 2, the NCS and the Group Embedded Figures Test were administered to 419 undergraduates to validate the factor structure and to determine whether the NCS tapped a construct distinct from test anxiety and cognitive style. The factor structure was replicated, and responses to the NCS were weakly related to cognitive style and unrelated to test anxiety. In Study 3, 104 undergraduates completed the NCS, the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, and a dogmatism scale. Results indicate that need for cognition was related weakly and negatively to being closeminded, unrelated to social desirability, and positively correlated with general intelligence. Study 4 (97 undergraduates) furnished evidence of the predictive validity of the NCS. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
People who are particularly vulnerable to disease may reduce their likelihood of contracting illnesses during social interactions by having particularly strong aversions to individuals who appear ill. Consistent with this proposal, here we show that men and women who perceive themselves to be particularly vulnerable to disease have stronger preferences for apparent health in dynamic faces than individuals who perceive themselves to be relatively less vulnerable to disease. This relationship was independent of possible effects of general disgust sensitivity. Furthermore, perceived vulnerability to disease was not related to preferences for other facial cues that are attractive but do not necessarily signal an individual's current health (i.e. perceiver-directed smiles). Our findings complement previous studies implicating perceived vulnerability to disease in attitudes to out-group individuals and those with physical abnormalities by implicating perceived vulnerability to disease as a factor in face preferences. Collectively, our findings reveal a relatively domain-specific association between perceived vulnerability to disease and the strength of aversions to facial cues associated with illness. Additionally, they are further evidence that variation in attractiveness judgments is not arbitrary, but rather reflects potentially adaptive individual differences in face preferences.
Extending a model relating xenophobia to disease avoidance [Faulkner, J., Schaller, M., Park, J. H., & Duncan, L. A. (2004). Evolved disease-avoidance mechanisms and contemporary xenophobic attitudes. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 7(4), 333–353.], we argue that both inter- and intragroup attitudes can be understood in terms of the costs and benefits of interacting with the in-group versus out-groups. In ancestral environments, interaction with members of the in-group will generally have posed less risk of disease transmission than interaction with members of an out-group, as individuals will have possessed antibodies to many of the pathogens present in the former, in contrast to those prevalent among the latter. Moreover, because coalitions are more likely among in-group members, the in-group would have been a potential source of aid in the event of debilitating illness. We conducted two online studies exploring the relationship between disease threat and intergroup attitudes. Study 1 found that ethnocentric attitudes increase as a function of perceived disease vulnerability. Study 2 found that in-group attraction increases as a function of disgust sensitivity, both when measured as an individual difference variable and when experimentally primed. We discuss these results with attention to the relationships among disease salience, out-group negativity, and in-group attraction.
Social dominance orientation (SDO), one's degree of preference for inequality among social groups, is introduced. On the basis of social dominance theory, it is shown that (a) men are more social dominance-oriented than women, (b) high-SDO people seek hierarchy-enhancing professional roles and low-SDO people seek hierarchy-attenuating roles, (c) SDO was related to beliefs in a large number of social and political ideologies that support group-based hierarchy (e.g., meritocracy and racism) and to support for policies that have implications for intergroup relations (e.g., war, civil rights, and social programs), including new policies. SDO was distinguished from interpersonal dominance, conservatism, and authoritariansim. SDO was negatively correlated with empathy, tolerance, communality, and altruism. The ramifications of SDO in social context are discussed. African and African American Studies Psychology
Individual differences in willingness to engage in uncommitted sexual relations were investigated in 6 studies. In Study 1, a 5-item Sociosexual Orientation Inventory (SOI) was developed. Studies 2, 3, and 4 provided convergent validity evidence for the SOI, revealing that persons who have an unrestricted sociosexual orientation tend to (a) engage in sex at an earlier point in their relationships, (b) engage in sex with more than 1 partner at a time, and (c) be involved in relationships characterized by less investment, commitment, love, and dependency. Study 5 provided discriminant validity for the SOI, revealing that it does not covary appreciably with a good marker of sex drive. Study 6 demonstrated that the SOI correlates negligibly with measures of sexual satisfaction, anxiety, and guilt. The possible stability of, origins of, and motivational bases underlying individual differences in sociosexuality are discussed.
Prejudice against fat people was compared with symbolic racism. An anti-fat attitudes questionnaire was developed and used in several studies testing the notion that antipathy toward fat people is part of an "ideology of blame." Three commonalities between antifat attitudes and racism were explored: (a) the association between values, beliefs, and the rejection of a stigmatized group, (b) the old-fashioned antipathy toward deviance of many sorts, and (c) the lack of self-interest in out-group antipathy. Parallels were found on all 3 dimensions. No in-group bias was shown by fat people. Fatism appears to behave much like symbolic racism, but with less of the negative social desirability of racism.
Two studies provide evidence for the reliability and validity of a new self-report measure of individual differences in intuitive-experiential and analytical-rational thinking based on cognitive-experiential self-theory (CEST). The Rational-Experiential Inventory (REI) was constructed to measure the 2 independent processing modes with a modified Need for Cognition Scale (NFC, J.T. Cacioppo & R.E. Petty, 1982) and a new scale, Faith in Intuition (FI). In Study 1, a factor analysis yielded 2 orthogonal factors corresponding to NFC and FI. Although heuristic processing was determined primarily by FI, NFC also contributed to heuristic responding, in line with CEST. The relation of FI and NFC to coping ability also was examined. In Study 2, the factor structure of the REI was replicated (N = 973). NFC and FI were differentially related to measures of personality, adjustment, achievement, and interpersonal relations.
A self-rated measure of health anxiety should be sensitive across the full range of intensity (from mild concern to frank hypochondriasis) and should differentiate people suffering from health anxiety from those who have actual physical illness but who are not excessively concerned about their health. It should also encompass the full range of clinical symptoms characteristic of clinical hypochondriasis. The development and validation of such a scale is described.
Three studies were conducted. First, the questionnaire was validated by comparing the responses of patients suffering from hypochondriasis with those suffering from hypochondriasis and panic disorder, panic disorder, social phobia and non-patient controls. Secondly, a state version of the questionnaire was administered to patients undergoing cognitive-behavioural treatment or wait-list in order to examine the measure's sensitivity to change. In the third study, a shortened version was developed and validated in similar types of sample, and in a range of samples of people seeking medical help for physical illness.
The scale was found to be reliable and to have a high internal consistency. Hypochondriacal patients scored significantly higher than anxiety disorder patients, including both social phobic patients and panic disorder patients as well as normal controls. In the second study, a 'state' version of the scale was found to be sensitive to treatment effects, and to correlate very highly with a clinician rating based on an interview of present clinical state. A development and refinement of the scale (intended to reflect more fully the range of symptoms of and reactions to hypochondriasis) was found to be reliable and valid. A very short (14 item) version of the scale was found to have comparable properties to the full length scale.
The HAI is a reliable and valid measure of health anxiety. It is likely to be useful as a brief screening instrument, as there is a short form which correlates highly with the longer version.
Disgust is a powerful human emotion that has been little studied until recently. Current theories do not coherently explain the purpose of disgust, nor why a wide range of stimuli can provoke a similar emotional response. Over 40 000 individuals completed a web-based survey using photo stimuli. Images of objects holding a potential disease threat were reported as significantly more disgusting than similar images with little or no disease relevance. This pattern of response was found across all regions of the world. Females reported higher disgust sensitivity than males; there was a constant decline in disgust sensitivity over the life course; and the bodily fluids of strangers were found more disgusting than those of close relatives. These data provide evidence that the human disgust emotion may be an evolved response to objects in the environment that represent threats of infectious disease.
In the 4 studies presented (N = 1,939), a converging set of analyses was conducted to evaluate the item adequacy, factor structure, reliability, and validity of the Disgust Scale (DS; J. Haidt, C. McCauley, & P. Rozin, 1994). The results suggest that 7 items (i.e., Items 2, 7, 8, 21, 23, 24, and 25) should be considered for removal from the DS. Secondary to removing the items, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed that the DS taps 3 dimensions of disgust: Core Disgust, Animal Reminder Disgust, and Contamination-Based Disgust. Women scored higher than men on the 3 disgust dimensions. Structural modeling provided support for the specificity of the 3-factor model, as Core Disgust and Contamination-Based Disgust were significantly predictive of obsessive- compulsive disorder (OCD) concerns, whereas Animal Reminder Disgust was not. Results from a clinical sample indicated that patients with OCD washing concerns scored significantly higher than patients with OCD without washing concerns on both Core Disgust and Contamination-Based Disgust, but not on Animal Reminder Disgust. These findings are discussed in the context of the refinement of the DS to promote a more psychometrically sound assessment of disgust sensitivity.
Pathogenic diseases impose selection pressures on the social behaviour of host populations. In humans (Homo sapiens), many psychological phenomena appear to serve an antipathogen defence function. One broad implication is the existence of cross-cultural differences in human cognition and behaviour contingent upon the relative presence of pathogens in the local ecology. We focus specifically on one fundamental cultural variable: differences in individualistic versus collectivist values. We suggest that specific behavioural manifestations of collectivism (e.g. ethnocentrism, conformity) can inhibit the transmission of pathogens; and so we hypothesize that collectivism (compared with individualism) will more often characterize cultures in regions that have historically had higher prevalence of pathogens. Drawing on epidemiological data and the findings of worldwide cross-national surveys of individualism/collectivism, our results support this hypothesis: the regional prevalence of pathogens has a strong positive correlation with cultural indicators of collectivism and a strong negative correlation with individualism. The correlations remain significant even when controlling for potential confounding variables. These results help to explain the origin of a paradigmatic cross-cultural difference, and reveal previously undocumented consequences of pathogenic diseases on the variable nature of human societies.
Previous research has documented cross-cultural differences in personality traits, but the origins of those differences remain unknown. The authors investigate the possibility that these cultural differences can be traced, in part, to regional differences in the prevalence in infectious diseases. Three specific hypotheses are deduced, predicting negative relationships between disease prevalence and (a) unrestricted sociosexuality, (b) extraversion, and (c) openness to experience. These hypotheses were tested empirically with methods that employed epidemiological atlases in conjunction with personality data collected from individuals in dozens of countries worldwide. Results were consistent with all three hypotheses: In regions that have historically suffered from high levels of infectious diseases, people report lower mean levels of sociosexuality, extraversion, and openness. Alternative explanations are addressed, and possible underlying mechanisms are discussed.
Individual differences in the desire for simple structure may influence how people understand, experience, and interact with their worlds. Studies 1 and 2 revealed that the Personal Need for Structure (PNS) scale (M. Thompson, M. Naccarato, & K. Parker, 1989,1992) possesses sufficient reliability and convergent and discriminant validity In Studies 3-5, Ss high in PNS were especially likely to organize social and nonsocial information in less complex ways, stereotype others, and complete their research requirements on time. These data suggest that people differ in their chronic desire for simple structure and that this difference can have important social-cognitive and behavioral implications. A consideration of chronic information-processing motives may facilitate the theoretical integration of social cognition, affect, motivation, and personality
From evolutionary psychological reasoning, we derived the hypothesis that chronic and contextually aroused feelings of vulnerability to disease motivate negative reactions to foreign peoples. The hypothesis was tested and supported across four correlational studies: chronic disease worries predicted implicit cognitions associating foreign outgroups with danger, and also predicted less positive attitudes toward foreign (but not familiar) immigrant groups. The hypothesis also received support in two experiments in which the salience of contagious disease was manipulated: participants under high disease-salience conditions expressed less positive attitudes toward foreign (but not familiar) immigrants and were more likely to endorse policies that would favor the immigration of familiar rather than foreign peoples. These results reveal a previously under-explored influence on xenophobic attitudes, and suggest interesting linkages between evolved disease-avoidance mechanisms and contemporary social cognition. Copyright © 2004 SAGE Publications London Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi.
Humans possess pathogen-avoidance mechanisms that respond to the visual perception of morphological anomalies in others. We investigated whether obesity may trigger these mechanisms. Study 1 revealed that people who are chronically concerned about pathogen transmission have more negative attitudes toward obese people; this effect was especially pronounced following visual exposure to obese individuals. Study 2 revealed that obesity is implicitly associated with disease-connoting concepts; this effect was especially pronounced when the threat of pathogen transmission is highly salient. Evolved pathogen-detection mechanisms are hypersensitive, and they appear to play a role in the stigmatization of obese people.
Prejudice against elderly people (“ageism”) is an issue of increasing social concern, but the psychological roots of ageism are only partially understood. Recent theorizing suggests that ageism may result, in part, from fallible cue-based disease-avoidance mechanisms. The perception of subjectively atypical physical features (including features associated with aging) may implicitly activate aversive semantic concepts (implicit ageism), and this implicit ageism is likely to emerge among perceivers who are especially worried about the transmission of infectious diseases. We report an experiment (N = 88) that provides the first empirical test of this hypothesis. Results revealed that implicit ageism is predicted by the interactive effects of chronic perceptions of vulnerability to infectious disease and by the temporary salience of disease-causing pathogens. Moreover, these effects are moderated by perceivers' cultural background. Implications for public policy are discussed.
Drawing on evolutionary psychological logic, we describe a model that links evolved mechanisms of disease-avoidance to contemporary prejudices against individuals with physical disabilities. Because contagious diseases were often accompanied by anomalous physical features, humans plausibly evolved psychological mechanisms that respond heuristically to the perception of these features, triggering specific emotions (disgust, anxiety), cognitions (negative attitudes), and behaviors (avoidance). This disease-avoidance system is over-inclusive: Anomalous features that are not due to disease (e.g., limb amputation due to accident) may also activate it, contributing to prejudicial attitudes and behaviors directed toward people with disabilities. This model implies novel hypotheses about contemporary variables that may amplify or reduce disability-based prejudice. We discuss past research within this context. We also present new evidence linking chronic and temporary concerns about disease to implicit negative attitudes toward and behavioral avoidance of disabled others. Discussion focuses on the conceptual and practical implications of this evolutionary approach.
Affect intensity is a stable individual difference characteristic defined in terms of the typical strength of an individual's responsiveness. Evidence is reviewed suggesting that the intensity of an individual's affective responsiveness generalizes across specific emotion categories, implying a general temperament dimension of emotional reactivity and variability. Two methods of assessing affect intensity are evaluated and found to exhibit desirable psychometric properties. Substantive research on the validity of the affect intensity construct is reviewed. Affect intensity is related to a variety of specific personality characteristics, has identifiable antecedents in childhood behavior, and relates to a broad range of cognitive, affective, and health-related consequences. An arousal regulation theory is proposed to account for individual differences in affective response intensity. Other plausible theories are mentioned, and directions for future research are discussed.
The Illness Attitude Scale (IAS) was devised to assess hypochondria and abnormal illness behaviour and described as having nine sub-scales (Kellner, Abridged Manual of the Illness Attitude Scale, 1987). However, no previous studies have examined the factor structure of this instrument. Factor analytic results from this study showed the IAS to have a four factor structure: 1.(1) general hypochondria,2.(2) symptom experience and frequency of treatments,3.(3) thanaphobia and4.(4) fear of coronary heart disease and associated preventative health habits.
This solution was shown to be both reliable and valid, but the reliability of a number of the original IAS sub-scales was questioned.
By motivating avoidance of contaminants, the experience of disgust guards against disease. Because behavioral prophylaxis entails time, energy, and opportunity costs, Fessler and Navarrete [Evol. Hum. Behav. 24 (2003) 406–417] hypothesized that disgust sensitivity is adjusted as a function of immunocompetence. Changes in immune functioning over the course of pregnancy offer an opportunity to test this notion. Relative to later stages, the first trimester of pregnancy involves substantial suppression of the maternal immune response, and both maternal and fetal vulnerability to pathogens are greatest during this phase; food-borne illnesses, in particular, pose a threat during the first trimester. Using a Web-based survey of 496 pregnant women, we compared participants in the first trimester with those in later stages of pregnancy. Results reveal heightened disgust sensitivity in the first trimester, notably including disgust sensitivity in the food domain. This pattern is not simply a consequence of elevated nausea during the first trimester, as, although disgust sensitivity and current level of nausea are correlated, first trimester women remain more easily disgusted in the food domain even after controlling for the greater incidence of nausea. These results provide preliminary support for the hypothesis that disgust sensitivity varies during pregnancy in a manner that compensates for maternal and fetal vulnerability to disease.
We describe the development of a reliable measure of individual differences in disgust sensitivity. The 32-item Disgust Scale includes 2 true-false and 2 disgust-rating items for each of 7 domains of disgust elicitors (food, animals, body products, sex, body envelope violations, death, and hygiene) and for a domain of magical thinking (via similarity and contagion) that cuts across the 7 domains of elicitors. Correlations with other scales provide initial evidence of convergent and discriminant validity: the Disgust Scale correlates moderately with Sensation Seeking (r= - 0.46) and with Fear of Death (r= 0.39), correlates weakly with Neuroticism (r = 0.23) and Psychoticism (r= - 0.25), and correlates negligibly with Self-Monitoring and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Extraversion and Lie scales. Females score higher than males on the Disgust Scale. We suggest that the 7 domains of disgust elicitors all have in common that they remind us of our animality and, especially, of our mortality. Thus we see disgust as a defensive emotion that maintains and emphasizes the line between human and animal.
The unfavorable treatment of people with physical disfigurements is well-documented, yet little is known about basic perceptual and cognitive responses to disfigurement. Here, we identify a specialized pattern of cognitive processing consistent with the hypothesis that disfigurements act as heuristic cues to contagious disease. Disfigurements are often invariant across time and difficult to conceal, and thus observers can detect the presence of such cues without necessarily remembering the particular individuals bearing these cues. Indeed, despite the fact that disfigured faces were especially likely to hold disease-sensitive perceivers' attention (Study 1), disfigured individuals were often confused with one another and thus not well remembered later (Study 2), revealing a disjunction of the typical relationship between elevated attention and elevated memory. We discuss the implications of our results for stigmatization of people with and without physical abnormalities and suggest the possibility that cognitive mechanisms for processing social information may be functionally tuned to the variant nature of important cues.
Between 60% and 80% of healthy individuals experience somatic symptoms in any one week. About 10% to 20% of a random sample of people worry intermittently about illness. A substantial proportion of patients present physicians with somatic complaints for which no organic cause can be found. Patients who are hypochondriacal do not understand the benign nature of functional somatic symptoms and interpret these as evidence of disease. Hypochondriacal concerns range from common short-lived worries to persistent and distressing fears or convictions of having a disease. Hypochondriasis can be secondary to other psychiatric disorders (eg, melancholia or panic disorder), and hypochondriacal attitudes remit when the primary disorder is successfully treated. Patients with primary hypochondriasis are also anxious or depressed, but the fear of disease, or the false belief of having a disease, persists and is the most important feature of their psychopathology. There are substantial differences among hypochondriacal patients in their personalities and psychopathologies. Psychotherapy as well as psychotropic drugs are effective in the treatment of functional somatic symptoms. There are no adequate controlled studies on the value of psychotherapy in hypochondriasis; the recommended guidelines are based on uncontrolled studies of hypochondriasis and on controlled studies of the psychotherapy in similar disorders. The prognosis of functional somatic symptoms as well as that of hypochondriasis is good in a substantial proportion of patients.
(JAMA 1987;258:2718-2722)
In order to investigate the concept of hypochondriasis a questionnaire has been devised. Evidence of its validity and reliability has been presented. This has been followed by a principal component analysis. Three factors have been identified as reflecting three dimensions of hypochondriasis, viz: Bodily Pre-occupation", "Disease Phobia" and "Conviction of the Presence of Disease with Non-Response to Reassurance". These three factors are discussed in relation to the literature on hypochondriasis. Their nature lends support to those observations which have been based on clinical experience.
Disgust is a basic emotion characterized by revulsion and rejection, yet it is relatively unexamined in the literature on prejudice. In the present investigation, interpersonal-disgust sensitivity (e.g., not wanting to wear clean used clothes or to sit on a warm seat vacated by a stranger) in particular predicted negative attitudes toward immigrants, foreigners, and socially deviant groups, even after controlling for concerns with contracting disease. The mechanisms underlying the link between interpersonal disgust and attitudes toward immigrants were explored using a path model. As predicted, the effect of interpersonal-disgust sensitivity on group attitudes was indirect, mediated by ideological orientations (social dominance orientation, right-wing authoritarianism) and dehumanizing perceptions of the out-group. The effects of social dominance orientation on group attitudes were both direct and indirect, via dehumanization. These results establish a link between disgust sensitivity and prejudice that is not accounted for by fear of infection, but rather is mediated by ideological orientations and dehumanizing group representations. Implications for understanding and reducing prejudice are discussed.
Pathogen prevalence predictshumancross-culturalvariability
- C L Fincher
- R Thornhill
- D R Murray
- M Schaller
Fincher, C. L., Thornhill, R., Murray, D. R., & Schaller, M. (2008). Pathogen prevalence predictshumancross-culturalvariability Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 275, 1279–1285
The big five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives Handbook of personality: Theory and research
- O P John
- S Srivastava
John, O. P., & Srivastava, S. (1999). The big five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. In L. A. Pervin & O. P. John (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (2nd ed., pp. 102–138). New York: Guilford Press.
The behavioral immune system: Its evolution and social psychological implications Evolution and the social mind: Evolutionary psychology and social cognition
- M Schaller
- L A Duncan
Schaller, M., & Duncan, L. A. (2007). The behavioral immune system: Its evolution and social psychological implications. In J. P. Forgas, M. G. Haselton, & W. von Hippel (Eds.), Evolution and the social mind: Evolutionary psychology and social cognition (pp. 293–307). New York: Psychology Press.
The behavioral immune system: Its evolution and social psychological implications
- Schaller
Social dominance orientation: A personality variable predicting social and political attitudes
- Pratto