Can History of Parasitic Diseases Increase Social Conservatism? Testing Behavioural Immune System Theory

Abstract

Aim. Using available data from previously published study the hypothesis that individuals with broader disease history are more conservative than those, who were infected less often in the past was tested.

Methods. Publicly available database containing data regarding perceived vulnerability to disease, social conservatism and participant’s history of parasitic disease was accessed. In the study 9409 cases from 43 countries were analysed.

Results. When controlling for participant’s age, sex, education level, wealth and perceived infectability, it was found, that broader disease history was a significant predictor of social conservatism.

Conclusions. Individuals, who were in the past infected with parasitic diseases more often, were observed to be more conservative than people, who had suffered from these diseases less often.

Full text

Journal of Education Culture and Society No. 2_2022 383
Can History of Parasitic Diseases
Increase Social Conservatism? Testing
Behavioural Immune System Theory
Wiktoria Jędryczka
Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw
Dawida 1, 50-527 Wrocław, Poland
E-mail address: wiktoria.jedryczka@gmail.com
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6901-3251
Abstract
Aim. Using available data from previously published study the hypothesis that
individuals with broader disease history are more conservative than those, who
were infected less often in the past was tested.
Methods. Publicly available database containing data regarding perceived
vulnerability to disease, social conservatism and participant’s history of parasitic
diseases was accessed. History of parasitic diseases, self-declared, consisted of nine
commonly occurring in tropical areas parasitic diseases. In the study 9409 cases
from 43 countries were analysed.
Results. When controlling for participant’s age, sex, education level, wealth and
perceived infectability, it was found, that broader disease history was a signicant
predictor of social conservatism. Additionally, it was found, that wealth and age
were negative predictors of social conservatism. All obtained effects were relatively
small, but signicant. The results are discussed in the light of previous research.
Conclusions. Individuals, who were in the past infected with parasitic diseases
more often, were observed to be more conservative than people, who had suffered
from these diseases less often.
Keywords: Perceived infectability, parasites, social conservatism, behavioural
immune system
Introduction
Life-threats are integral parts of human life. We can be hurt by wild ani-
mals, food shortage, disasters and, among many others, pathogens.
These microorganisms may cause life-threatening diseases, often able to
spread among people, infecting and affecting more and more individu-
als, what recent coronavirus pandemics demonstrated – among others,
observed can be avoidant behaviours and changed attitudes (Kowal et al.,
2020; Sorokowski et al., 2020; Weiss & Nawas Martin, 2005).

384 Experience
Beyond the immune system, that can partially or completely protect
individual from gaining a disease (Delves & Roitt, 2000) organisms devel-
oped different mechanism - the behavioural immune system (BIS) (Schaller
& Duncan, 2007), that expresses in pathogen avoidance behaviours, e.g.,
avoiding contaminated water, foreign body secretions, observed signs of
illness, or rejecting stale and suspicious-looking food. It is probably the rst
line defence against pathogenic and parasitic diseases (Schaller, 2006). BIS
consists of a collection of emotions, cognitions and behaviours, that work-
ing together, may prevent life-threatening illness. Perception of specic
stimuli (e.g., signs of illness) activates specic emotions (e.g., disgust) and
then facilitates functional behavioural reactions of avoidance (e.g., social
exclusion). Therefore, activation of this system promotes preservation of
health and longevity (Ackerman et al., 2018).
Interesting are BIS’s correlates on the social level. For instance, it was
suggested that BIS is positively related to social conservatism (Terrizzi et
al., 2013). Social conservatism, dened as sociocultural value system, pro-
motes strict adherence to existing social norms, sympathy to social conven-
tions and traditions, which then strengthens in-group cohesion (Altemayer,
1988). Adhering to norms (e.g., avoidance of outgroups, new eating habits
or risky sexual behaviours) lowers the risk of gaining a disease from these
potential sources, by strong aversive responses triggered in the presence of
potential pathogens (Schaller & Duncan, 2016).
Research suggest, that social conservatism could be related to parasite
stress. For instance on national level parasite stress may be related to tra-
ditionalism, autocracy or women’s sexual restrictiveness (Thornhill et al.,
2009; Tybur et al., 2016). Additionally meta-analysis on BIS revealed, that
the action of the behavioural immune system may be positively related
to right-wing authoritarianism and political conservatism (Terrizzi et al.,
2013).
Therefore, preserving social norms and following the status quo could
potentially protect individuals from getting infected. In fact, conservatism
is positively associated with disgust sensitivity, but negatively with actual
disease avoiding behaviours (Kempthorne & Terrizzi Jr., 2021).
The indirect, but strong evidence for a link between activation of BIS
and preferences for social conservatism can be found in recent research.
Coronavirus pandemic created real-life, objective, life-threatening environ-
ment in which some natural observations could be done (e.g., activation of
BIS may be provoked by internet searches about ongoing pandemics) (Ma
& Ye, 2022). Among others, the spread of coronavirus coincided with presi-
dential elections in United States and Poland.
Karwowski’s et al. (2020) study demonstrated, that people who feel
threatened react with the emotion of anxiety, tend to seek greater struc-
ture in their environment, and, because of that, may shift toward social
conservatism. This sequence may then increase support for conservative
presidential candidates.

Journal of Education Culture and Society No. 2_2022 385
Moreover, studies indicate, that disease related threats make people
show more negative attitudes toward foreigners (Sorokowski et al., 2020)
and motivation to stay away from them (Reny & Barreto, 2022), what also
could be an evidence to support the hypothesis that social conservatism
increases alongside with perceived threat to life.
Previous research focuses on relation between conservatism and threat
of infection or own perceived infectability, however there is no research on
objective threat to life – the actual disease history.
In this study I test whether general perceived vulnerability to disease
(Duncan & Schaller, 2009), and/or broad history of disease can predict
social conservatism among participants (Henningham, 1996). Based on sci-
entic reports indicated above, I assume that individuals with greater per-
ceived infectability (subjective threat to live) and/or broader disease his-
tory (objective threat to life) will adopt more conservative beliefs.
Methodology
Participants
In this study, I accessed and re-analysed data published with Sorokows-Sorokows-
ki’s et al. (2021) research on romantic love, that also contained specic
and detailed data on history of participant’s parasitic diseases. Published
with an article database included 11422 participants from 45 countries (see
Conroy-Beam et al., 2019a; Conroy-Beam et al., 2019b; Kowal et al., 2020;
Sorokowska et al., 2021; Sorokowski et al., 2021; Walter et al., 2020; Walter
et al., 2021). After exclusion of participants, who did not provide essential
information (e.g., missing data within questionnaires), the sample used in
present article consisted of N = 9409 participants (54.09% women), from 43
countries, aged from 15 to 99, M = 29.6; SD = 11. 0.2% participants had no
formal education, 1.3% was primary educated, 13.3% had secondary edu-
cation, 30.1% was after high school and 55.1% had a degree. Self-assessed
economic situation of 2.9% was much lower than the average, of 12.9% was
lower than the average, of 54.9% was average, of 25.8% was higher than the
average and of 3.4% was much higher than the average.
General sample consisted of following countries samples: Algeria
(n = 323, 54% women), Australia (n = 263, 55% women), Austria (n = 140, 79%
women), Belgium (242, 52% women), Brazil (n = 207, 52% women), Chile
(n = 138, 58% women), China (n = 315, 61% women), Colombia (103, 51%
women), Costa Rica (n = 109, 50% women), Croatia (n = 215, 61% women),
Cuba (n = 185, 51% women), El Salvador (n = 49, 67% women), Estonia
(n = 166, 54% women), Georgia (n = 130, 49% women), Germany
(n = 76, 64% women), Greece (n = 145, 65% women), Hungary (n = 826, 50%
women), India (n = 248, 52% women), Indonesia (n = 74, 51% women), Iran
(n = 70, 49% women), Italy (n = 269, 66% women), Jordan (n = 191, 48%
women), Lithuania (n = 176, 52% women), Malaysia (n = 75, 69% women),

386 Experience
Mexico (n = 92, 53% women), Netherlands (n = 170, 58% women), Nigeria
(n = 216, 50% women), Norway (n = 108, 53% women), Pakistan (n = 479, 55%
women), Peru (n = 170, 67% women), Poland (n = 389, 45% women), Portu-
gal (n = 147, 48% women), Romania (n = 152, 49% women), Russia (n = 160,
58% women), Serbia (n = 353, 54% women), Slovakia (119, 57% women),
Slovenia (508, 51% women), South Korea (n = 169, 46% women), Spain
(250, 62% women), Sweden (n = 211, 51% women), Turkey (n = 685, 55%
women), Uganda (n = 191, 40% women), United States of America (105, 53%
women).
Methods
Data. Database was accessed at Figshare (see: References). Database
consisted of data concerning love and relationships, that was used origi-
nally, but was not included in this study. Data I used for re-analysis can be
found at Open Science Framework (see: References). In this study I used
following measures:
Perceived infectability. Perceived infectability was measured using sub-
scale „Perceived Infectability” of Perceived Vulnerability to Disease Ques-
tionnaire (PVD) (Duncan & Schaller, 2009). The scale consists of 7 state-
ments (e.g., „If an illness is ‘going around’, I will get it”), three reverse
coded (e.g., „My immune system protects me from most illnesses that
other people get”), responded on 7-point scale from „strongly disagree”
to „strongly agree”. The score is obtained by averaging recoded answers.
Reliability was tested with Cronbach’s alpha and was satisfactory, α = 0.8.
Social conservatism. Political identity was measured using 12-item Social
Conservatism Scale (Henningham, 1996). Two items were not included con-
sidering cultural differences of participants: „Bible truth” and „Condom
vending machines”. Each of included items was answered „yes” or „no”
depending on participants attitude toward this item. Then the answers were
recoded according to the key (for part of the items, a „yes” was conserva-
tive answer, e.g., „Death Penalty”, and for the others conservative answer
was a „no”, e.g., „Multiculturalism”). Each conservative answer was coded
as 1, and liberal as 0. Recoded answers were summed up. Fully liberal par-
ticipant would score 0, while fully conservative participant would score 10.
Additionally, only 8 questions were asked in Iran, where missing two („Gay
Rights” and „Legal Prostitution”) were, according to local researchers, prob-
lematic to ask in the view of legal circumstances of a country, unethical and
offensive for Iranian participants, therefore the answers for this items in Iran
were automatically assumed as a „no”. Reliability tested with Cronbach’s
alpha was relatively low, but acceptable, α = 0.62.
History of parasitic diseases. Participants were asked whether they
suffered from any of nine below-listed parasitic diseases, and if yes, how
many times were they infected. The answers originally were coded 1 for
never having disease, 2 for having it once, and 3 for having it more than
once. Minimal possible score was 9, and maximal was 27. In this study, after

Journal of Education Culture and Society No. 2_2022 387
adding up a score for each participant, 9 was subtracted from each result
to simplify the interpretation. Ultimately, the lowest possible score was 0
(when participant had never have any of listed diseases) and the highest
was 18 (when participant had been suffering from every listed disease more
than once). Missing-data cases were carefully analysed, and assumed as
„never having a disease”, if participant provided an answer to any other
disease-related question. As it could be due to misunderstanding the coding
instructions, we assume, that by leaving blanks participants meant „never”
to certain diseases. Only participants, who did not provide answer to any of
disease history-related questions were excluded from the sample.
Database contained data concerning the following diseases:
• Dengue. Mosquito-borne disease, caused by dengue virus that occurs
in tropical regions. Infection with one type of the virus usually gives
lifetime immunity for this specic type, but only short-term immunity
to other types (World’s Health Organization [WHO], 2022). Infection
can be transmitted not only by mosquitos, but also via infected blood
or organ donations (Wider-Smith et.al., 2009).
• Filaria. Arthropod-borne disease, caused by parasitic worms, that
infect lymphatic system, spread by variety of mosquito vector species,
occurring in tropical regions (Melrose, 2002). From person-to-person
laria can spread by mosquito bites (Center for Disease Control and
Prevention [CDC], 2020).
• Leishmania. Parasitic disease that spreads through the bite of sandies
occurring in tropical regions of Africa, the Americas, Asia and south-
ern Europe. Infection can be transmitted from one person to another
via sandy bites (WHO, 2022).
• Leprosy. Mycobacterial, long-term, low contagiousness infection,
spread among people via extensive contact with an infected individ-
ual, through their cough or nose uids (CDC, 2017).
• Malaria. Mosquito-borne infectious disease that is spread by the bites
of parasite-carrying mosquitos. Typically occurs in tropical and sub-
tropical regions of Africa, Asia and the Americas (WHO, 2014).
• Schistosoma. Caused by parasitic atworms, released to the water by
freshwater snails. Infection follows skin contact with infested water.
Person-to-person transition is the result of contamination of freshwater
sources with infected-person’s excreta. Schistosoma occurs in tropical
and subtropical regions, especially in poor communities with difcult
access to safe drinking water (WHO, 2022).
• Trypanosoma. Vector-borne parasitic disease, transmitted by infected
tsetse ies in sub-Saharan Africa. Besides tsetse ies, from person-to-
person transmission occurs via infected blood contact, mother-to-child
transmission (protozoans from mother can infect the foetus through
placenta), or lately reported sexual intercourse (WHO, 2022)
• Tuberculosis. Infectious disease caused by pathogenic mycobacteria,
spread through the air with infected person’s cough, spit, speak or

388 Experience
sneeze. Prolonged, frequent or close contact with infected individual
enhances the risk of becoming infected (WHO, 2021).
• Typhus. Caused by specic type of bacterial infection, transmitted
from one person to another via exposure on infested body lices, not
only through close personal contact, but also through presence in
crowded communities (CDC, 2020).
Economic situation. Participants were asked to self-assess their econo-
mic situation, according to the key: 1 – much lower than the average, 2 –
lower than the average, 3 – average, 4 – higher than the average, 5 – much
higher than the average.
Education. Participants determined their education according to the
key: 1 – no formal education, 2 – primary education, 3 – secondary educa-
tion, 4 – high school and 5 – degree.
Results
Average perceived infectability in the sample was M = 3.29; SD = 1.14;
average conservatism was M = 4.01; SD = 2.26 and average history of para-
sitic diseases in the past was M = 0.25; SD = 0.82. According to the law of
large numbers, there was no need to logarithmize any variables (Sobczyk,
2007) and it hasn’t been done.
Correlations among main factors are presented in Table 1.
Table 1
Correlations among factors
Education Economic
situation
Perceived
infectability Parasites Age
Economic
situation 0.15***
Perceived
infectability -0.021* -0.019
Parasites 0.023* 0.038*** 0.077***
Age -0.016 0.073*** -0.013 0.005
Conservatism -0.019 -0.027** 0.03** 0.163*** -0.027**
Note: *** = p < 0,001; ** = p < 0,01; * = p <0,05
Source: own research.
Since expected correlations between perceived infectability, conse-
rvatism and parasite history appeared, two separate regression models
were prepared. Apart from the main variables (meaning perceived infec-
tability, social conservatism and history of disease), the following pre-
dictors were included in each model: age, education, economic situation
and sex.

Journal of Education Culture and Society No. 2_2022 389
The model was built with social conservatism as dependent variable,
and t data well (F = 45.5; p < 0.001). History of parasitic diseases was a
signicant predictor of social conservatism (β = 0.45; p < 0.001), unlike was
perceived infectability. It means, that people who had broader disease
history, but not necessarily those, who feared infection more, were more
likely to be conservative. Signicant in this model were also age (β = -0.005;
p = 0.01) and economic situation ( = -0.08; p < 0.01), what suggest, that more
likely to be socially conservative were participants who were younger and
in worse economic situation. The model explained nearly 3% of variation
(R2 = 0.029).
Discussion and conclusion
In this study I tested hypothesis regarding the relation between social
conservatism, disease history and perceived infectability. According to
hypothesis, individuals with broader disease history and higher perceived
infectability should adopt more conservative attitudes.
Obtained effect was relatively small and explained around 3% of
variance in dependent variable. It is understood, as social conservatism and
history of disease depend on many different factors, that could not possibly
be captured in one study. For instance, social conservatism, among many
others, comes with religiosity and religious worldview (Terrizi et al., 2012),
the emotion of disgust (Terrizi et al., 2010) or right-wing authoritarianism
(Harnish et al., 2018). In case of disease history many factors as well are
involved: individual’s living region, healthcare, migrations or preventive
measures. The size effect of presented model is not big, nevertheless it is
signicant, and can be supported by theory.
My hypothesis was partially conrmed. Although the model did not
explain much of the variance, it was signicant. History of a disease was a
signicant, positive predictor of socially conservative beliefs. People, who
have had broader history of parasitic diseases were more likely to present
conservative attitudes, than people who have had less diseases in the past.
This result is consistent with hypothesis, and previous studies (Terrizi et
al., 2013, Tornhill et al., 2009; Tybur et al., 2016). Perceived infectability was
not a signicant predictor of such attitude – people who perceived them-
selves as more vulnerable to disease were less likely to be conservative. In
fact, some studies before as well found no relation among these two factors,
even though it is counterintuitive and not consistent with the theoretical
construct of BIS (Tybur et al., 2010), sometimes conservative values corre-
late with behaviors opposite to expected – anti-vaccination or anti-mask
attitudes, so behaviors that increase, instead of decrease, the risk of gaining
an infection (Kemptorne, Terrizzi, 2021; Hornsey et al., 2020). One of the
reasons why perceived infectability was not a signicant predictor of social
conservatism could be that, the political attitudes as a factor are very com-

390 Experience
plex, so perceived infectability may not be crucial or the effect could be
indirect. Two more signicant (and negative) predictors were participan-
t’s age and economic situation. People in worse material situation were be
more likely to be conservative, maybe because social conservatism streng-
thens in-group cohesion (Altemayer, 1988) which is safer and more careful
attitude than letting outgroups to restricted resources. It is quite unusual,
that age predicted conservatism negatively (more socially conservative are
expected to be older, rather than younger people (Campbell & Strate, 1981;
Peterson et al., 2020). Although, none of these predictors were especially
strong, they were both signicant.
Unusual directions of predictors in regression model could be expla-
ined for instance with a great variety of societies and cultures form outside
the WEIRD world (Western Educated Industrialized Rich and Democratic
countries) (Henrich et al., 2010) in database, that are not often investiga-
ted in psychological research (e.g., data from Costa Rica or Uganda). This
could be responsible for unexpected and surprising relation of age and
social conservatism in presented regression model. Therefore, for obtaining
the most reliable results, psychological studies in general should be perfor-
med worldwide - in a great variety of cultures and customs, and not only
the WEIRD countries. Fortunately, it is becoming a trend in social science
and more studies appear to be testing large, diverse samples (Bago et al.,
2022; Legate et al., 2022; Kowal et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2021). My model,
despite it explained only a fracture of variance of social conservatism (and
its predictor - disease history) among participants, it was accordant with
described above trend considering sample size and diversity.
Considering, that psychology currently experiences replication crisis,
and quite a few hypotheses have troubles being conrmed (Maxwell et al.,
2015), there certainly always is a need for replications or re-analyses. The
data I used is publicly available and can be accessed online. It could be,
what I highly encourage, used for the performance of more sophisticated
statistical models, e.g., mediations or moderations, which may reveal addi-
tional information. In this study hypothesis were only partially conrmed
and results explained a little fracture of an issue, therefore future investiga-
tions may shed a broader light on it.
Acknowledgement
The study was made possible by funding from the IDN Being Human
Lab, University of Wroclaw, Poland.

Journal of Education Culture and Society No. 2_2022 391
References
[1] Ackerman, J. M., Hill, S. E., & Murray, D. R. (2018). The behavioral immune system:
Current concerns and future directions. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 12(2).
https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12371
[2] Altemeyer, B. (1988). Enemies of freedom: Understanding right-wing authoritarianism.
Jossey-Bass.
[3] Bago, B., Kovacs, M., Protzko, J., Nagy, T., Kekecs, Z., Pal, B., Adamkovic, M., Adamus,
S., Albalooshi, S., Albayrak-Aydemir, N., Alan, I. N., Alper, S., Alvarez-Solas, S., Alves,
S., Amaya, S., Andersen, P. K., Anjum, G., Ansari, D., Arriaga, P., … & Balazs A. (2022).
Situational factors shape moral judgements in the trolley dilemma in Eastern, Southern
and Western countries in a culturally diverse sample. Nature human behaviour, 6, 880-895.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01319-5
[4] Campbell, J. C., & Strate, J. (1981). Are old people conservative? The gerontologist, 21(6),
580-591. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/21.6.580
[5] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Parasites – Lymphatic Filiarsis. https://
www.cdc.gov/parasites/lymphaticlariasis/gen_info/faqs.html
[6] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Typhus Fevers. https://www.cdc.gov/
typhus/epidemic/index.html
[7] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). Hansen’s Disease (Leprosy) Transmis-
sion. https://www.cdc.gov/leprosy/transmission/
[8] Conroy-Beam, D., Buss, D. M., Asao, K., Sorokowska, A., Sorokowski, P., Aavik, T., Akello,
G., Alhabahba, M. M., Alm, C., Amjad, N., Anjum, A., Atama, C. S., Duyar, D. A., Ayebare,
R., Batres, C., Bendixen, M., Bensaa, A., Bizumic, B., Boussena, M., ... & Zupančič, M.
(2019a). Contrasting computational models of mate preference integration across 45 coun-
tries. Scientic reports, 9. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-52748-8
[9] Conroy-Beam, D., Roney, J. R., Lukaszewski, A. W., Buss, D. M., Asao, K., Sorokowska, A.,
Sorokowski, P., Aavik, T., Akello, G., Alhabahba, M. M., Alm, C., Amjad, N., Anjum, A.,
Atama, C. S., Duyar, D. A., Ayebare, R., Batres, C., Bendixen, M., Bensaa, A., ... & Zupančič,
M. (2019b). Assortative mating and the evolution of desirability covariation. Evolution and
Human Behavior, 40(5), 479-491. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2019.06.003
[10] Delves, P. J., & Roitt, I. M. (2000). The immune system. New England Journal of Medicine,
343(1), 37-49. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJM200007063430107
[11] Duncan, L. A., Schaller, M., & Park, J. H. (2009). Perceived vulnerability to disease: Devel-
opment and validation of a 15-item self-report instrument. Personality and Individual Differ-
ences, 47(6), 541-546. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2009.05.001
[12] Harnish, R. J., Bridges, K. R., & Gump, J. T. (2018). Predicting economic, social, and for-
eign policy conservatism: The role of right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance ori-
entation, moral foundations orientation, and religious fundamentalism. Current Psychol-
ogy, 37(3), 668-679. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-016-9552-x
[13] Henningham, J. P. (1996). A 12-item scale of social conservatism. Personality and Individual
Differences, 20(4), 517-519. https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(95)00192-1
[14] Henrich, J., Heine, S. J., & Norenzayan, A. (2010). The weirdest people in the world? Behav-
ioral and brain sciences, 33(2-3), 61-83.
[15] Hornsey, M. J., Finlayson, M., Chatwood, G., & Begeny, C. T. (2020). Donald Trump and
vaccination: The effect of political identity, conspiracist ideation and presidential tweets
on vaccine hesitancy. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 88, 103947. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.jesp.2019.103947
[16] Karwowski, M., Kowal, M., Groyecka-Bernard, A., Białek, M., Lebuda, I., Sorokowska,
A., & Sorokowski, P. (2020). When in danger, turn right: Does Covid-19 threat promote
social conservatism and right-wing presidential candidates? Preprint. https://psyarxiv.
com/pjfhs/
[17] Kempthorne, J. C., & Terrizzi Jr, J. A. (2021). The behavioral immune system and
conservatism as predictors of disease-avoidant attitudes during the COVID-19 pan-
demic. Personality and Individual Differences, 178, 110857. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
paid.2021.110857

392 Experience
[18] Kowal, M., Sorokowski, P., Sorokowska, A., Dobrowolska, M., Pisanski, K., Oleszkiewicz,
A., Aavik, T., Akello, G., Alm, C., Amjad, N., Anjum, A., Asao, K., Atama, C. S., Duyar, D.
A., Ayebare, R., Bendixen, M., Bensaa, A., Bizumic, B., Boussena, M., ... & Zupančič, M.
(2020). Reasons for Facebook usage: Data from 46 countries. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 711.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00711
[19] Kowal, M., Sorokowski, P., Sorokowska, A., Lebuda, I., Groyecka-Bernard, A., Białek,
M., Kowalska, K., Wojtycka, L., Karwowski, M., Olszewska, A. (2020). Dread in Aca-Dread in Aca-
demia–how COVID-19 affects science and scientists. Anthropological Review, 83(4), 387-394.
https://doi.org/10.2478/anre-2020-0028
[20] Legate, N., Ngyuen, T. V., Weinstein, N., Moller, A., Legault, L., Vally, Z., Tajchman, Z.,
Zsido, A., Zrimsek, M., Chen, Z., Ziano, I., Gialitaki, Z., Ceary, C. D., Jang, Y., Lin, Y.,
Kunisato, Y., Yamada, Y., Xiao, Q., Jiang, X., ... & Primbs, M. (2022). A global experiment
on motivating social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, 119(22). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2111091119
[21] Ma, M. Z., & Ye, S. (2022). Coronavirus-related searches on the Internet predict COVID-19
vaccination rates in the real world: A behavioral immune system perspective. Social Psy-
chological and Personality Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506221106012
[22] Maxwell, S. E., Lau, M. Y., & Howard, G. S. (2015). Is psychology suffering from a repli-
cation crisis? What does „failure to replicate” really mean? American Psychologist, 70(6),
487-498. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039400
[23] Melrose, W. D. (2002). Lymphatic lariasis: new insights into an old disease. International
Journal for Parasitology, 32(8), 947-960. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0020-7519(02)00062-0
[24] Open Science Framework. (2022). BIS and parasites. https://osf.io/jwufv
[25] Peterson, J. C., Smith, K. B., & Hibbing, J. R. (2020). Do people really become more con-
servative as they age? The Journal of Politics, 82(2), 600-611.
[26] Reny, T. T., & Barreto, M. A. (2022). Xenophobia in the time of pandemic: othering, anti-
Asian attitudes, and COVID-19. Politics, Groups, and Identities, 10(2), 209-232. https://doi.
org/10.1080/21565503.2020.1769693
[27] Schaller, M. (2006). Parasites, behavioral defenses, and the social psychological mechani-
sms through which cultures are evoked. Psychological Inquiry, 17(2), 96–101.
[28] 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). Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
[29] Schaller, M., & Duncan, L. A. (2016). The behavioral immune system. In D. M. Buss
(Ed.), The handbook of evolutionary psychology: Foundations (pp. 206-224). John Wiley & Sons,
Inc.
[30] Sobczyk, M. (2007). Statystyka [Statistics] (5th ed.). Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.
[31] Sorokowska, A., Saluja, S., Sorokowski, P., Frąckowiak, T., Karwowski, M., Aavik, T.,
Akello, G., Alm, C., Amjad, N., Anjum, A., Asao, K., Atama, C. S., Duyar, D. A., Ayebare, R.,
Batres, C., Bendixen, M., Bensaa, A., Bizumic, B., Boussena, M., ... & Croy, I. (2021). Affec-& Croy, I. (2021). Affec-
tive interpersonal touch in close relationships: a cross-cultural perspective. Personality and
Social Psychology Bulletin, 47(12), 1705-1721. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167220988373
[32] Sorokowski, P., Groyecka, A., Kowal, M., Sorokowska, A., Białek, M., Lebuda, I., Dobro-
wolska, M., Zdybek, P., & Karwowski, M. (2020). Can information about pandemics
increase negative attitudes toward foreign groups? A case of COVID-19 outbreak. Sustain-
ability, 12(12), 4912. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12124912
[33] Sorokowski, P., Sorokowska, A., Karwowski, M., Groyecka, A., Aavik, T., Akello, G., Alm,
C., Amjad, N., Anjum, A., Asao, K., Atama, C. S., Duyar, D. A., Ayebare, R., Bartes, C., Ben-
dixen, M., Bensaa, A., Bizumic, B., Boussena, M., Buss, D. M., … & Sternberg, R. J. (2021).
Universality of the triangular theory of love: adaptation and psychometric properties of
the triangular love scale in 25 countries. The Journal of Sex Research, 58(1), 106-115. https://
doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2020.1787318
[34] Sorokowski, P., Sorokowska, A., Karwowski, M., Groyecka, A., Aavik, T., Akello, G., Alm,
C., Amjad, N., Anjum, A., Asao, K., Atama, C. S., Duyar, D. A., Ayebare, R., Bartes, C.,
Bendixen, M., Bensaa, A., Bizumic, B., Boussena, M., Buss, D. M., … & Sternberg, R. J.

Journal of Education Culture and Society No. 2_2022 393
(2021). Universality of the triangular theory of love: adaptation and psychometric prop-
erties of the triangular love scale in 25 countries. The Journal of Sex Research, 58(1), 106-
115. Figshare. Retrieved February, 25, 2022, from https://gshare.com/articles/dataset/
Love_parasites_and_conservatism_The_Journal_of_Sex_Research_58_106-115_/19114478
[35] Terrizzi Jr, J. A., Shook, N. J., & McDaniel, M. A. (2013). The behavioral immune system
and social conservatism: A meta-analysis. Evolution and Human Behavior, 34(2), 99-108.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2012.10.003
[36] Terrizzi Jr, J. A., Shook, N. J., & Ventis, W. L. (2010). Disgust: A predictor of social conserv-
atism and prejudicial attitudes toward homosexuals. Personality and Individual Differences,
49(6), 587-592. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2010.05.024
[37] Terrizzi Jr, J. A., Shook, N. J., & Ventis, W. L. (2012). Religious conservatism: an evolution-
arily evoked disease-avoidance strategy. Religion, Brain & Behavior, 2(2), 105-120. https://
doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2012.695514
[38] Thornhill, R., Fincher, C. L., & Aran, D. (2009). Parasites, democratization, and the liberali-
zation of values across contemporary countries. Biological Reviews, 84(1), 113-131. https://
doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-185X.2008.00062.x
[39] Tybur, J. M., Inbar, Y., Aarøe, L., Barclay, P., Barlow, F. K., De Barra, M., Becker, V. D.,
Borovoi, L., Choi, I., Consedine, N. S., Conway, A., Conway, J. R., Conway, P., Adoric,
V. C., Demirci, D. E., Fernández, A. M., Ferrerira, D. C. S., Ishii, K., Jakšić, I., ... & Žeželj,
I. (2016). Parasite stress and pathogen avoidance relate to distinct dimensions of political
ideology across 30 nations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(44), 12408-
12413. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1607398113
[40] Tybur, J. M., Merriman, L. A., Hooper, A. E. C., McDonald, M. M., & Navarrete, C. D.
(2010). Extending the behavioral immune system to political psychology: Are political con-
servatism and disgust sensitivity really related? Evolutionary Psychology, 8(4). https://doi.
org/10.1177/147470491000800406
[41] Walter, K. V., Conroy-Beam, D., Buss, D. M., Asao, K., Sorokowska, A., Sorokowski, P.,
Aavik, T., Akello, G., Alhabahba, M. M., Alm, C., Amjad, N., Anjum, A., Atama, C. S.,
Duyar, D. A., Ayebare, R., Bartes, C., Bendixen, M, Bensaa, A., Bizumic, B., ... & Zupančič,
M. (2020). Sex differences in mate preferences across 45 countries: A large-scale replica-
tion. Psychological Science, 31(4), 408-423. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797620904154
[42] Walter, K. V., Conroy-Beam, D., Buss, D. M., Asao, K., Sorokowska, A., Sorokowski, P.,
Aavik, T., Akello, G., Alhabahba, M. M., Alm, C., Amjad, N., Anjum, A., Atama, C. S.,
Duyar, D. A., Ayebare, R., Bartes, C., Bendixen, M, Bensaa, A., Bizumic, B., ... & Zupančič,
M. (2021). Sex differences in human mate preferences vary across sex ratios. Proceedings of
the Royal Society B, 288(1955), 20211115. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.1115
[43] Wang, K., Goldenberg, A., Dorison, C. A., Miller, J. K., Uusberg, A., Lerner, J. S., Gross, J.
J., Agesin, B. B., Bernardo, M., Campos, O., Eudave, L., Grzech, K., Ozery, D. H., Jackson,
E. A., Garcia, E. O. L., Drexler, S. M., Jurković, A. P., Rana, K., Wilson, J. P., ... & Moshontz,
H. (2021). A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the
COVID-19 pandemic. Nature Human Behaviour, 5(8), 1089-1110. https://doi.org/10.1038/
s41562-021-01173-x
[44] Weiss, S. R., & Navas-Martin, S. (2005). Coronavirus pathogenesis and the emerging path-
ogen severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus. Microbiology and Molecular Biology
Reviews, 69(4), 635-664. https://doi.org/10.1128/MMBR.69.4.635-664.2005
[45] Wilder-Smith, A., Chen, L. H., Massad, E., & Wilson, M. E. (2009). Threat of dengue to
blood safety in dengue-endemic countries. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 15(1), 8-11. https://
doi.org/10.3201/eid1501.071097
[46] World’s Health Organization. (2022). Dengue and severe dengue. https://www.who.int/
news-room/fact-sheets/detail/dengue-and-severe-dengue
[47] World Health Organization. (2022). Leishmaniasis - Fact sheet N°375. https://www.who.
int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/leishmaniasis
[48] World Health Organization. (2022). Schistosomiasis - Fact Sheet N°115. https://www.who.
int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/schistosomiasis
[49] World Health Organization. (2022). Trypanosomiasis. https://www.who.int/news-room/
fact-sheets/detail/trypanosomiasis-human-african-(sleeping-sickness)

394 Experience
[50] World Health Organization. (2021). Tuberculosis. https://www.who.int/news-room/
fact-sheets/detail/tuberculosis
[51] World Health Organization. (2014). Malaria - Fact sheet N°94. https://web.archive.org/
web/20140903002027/http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs094/en/