People possess psychological processes that help them avoid pathogens, which is particularly important when novel infectious diseases (e.g., COVID-19) spread through the population. Across two studies we examined whether trait pathogen avoidance (operationalized as perceived vulnerability to disease; PVD) was linked with responses to COVID-19 and preventative behaviors. In Study 1, PVD was positively associated with stronger reactions to the threat of COVID-19, including increased anxiety, perceptions that people should alter their typical behavior, as well as reported importance of engaging in proactive and social distancing behaviors. In Study 2, PVD was again associated with increased anxiety, as well as more vigilant behavior when grocery shopping, fewer trips to the store, and fewer face-to-face interactions. These associations remained significant when controlling for the Big-5 personality traits. Although the two subscales of PVD (germ aversion and perceived infectability) were often parallel predictors, several differences between the subscales emerged. Germ aversion may be more associated with behaviors whereas perceived infectability with vigilance.

Throughout human evolutionary history, members of unfamiliar out-groups are likely to have posed significant disease threats. The current studies assessed whether concerns about disease would bias people toward categorizing social targets as members of an unfamiliar out-group. Using a minimal group paradigm, 2 experiments assessed the extent to which perceivers categorized neutral targets and those displaying heuristic disease cues as members of the in-group versus the out-group. A bias toward categorizing targets with heuristic disease cues (but not neutral targets) as members of the novel out-group was observed among people high in chronic germ aversion and among those for whom disease threat had been experimentally primed. Consistent with theories emphasizing the pernicious dangers potentially posed by out-group pathogens, this bias was strongest if the targets were also a part of a racial out-group. Findings suggest a fundamental link between disease avoidance processes and biases in intergroup cognition.

In response to the persistent threat of illness, a coordinated set of psychological mechanisms evolved to protect people (and other organisms) against possible exposure to pathogens. Some research suggests that pathogen avoidance is associated with morality, specifically a greater emphasis on moral values that bind groups together and prioritize unifying and protecting one's group. The aims of the current studies were (a) to replicate the association between chronic (i.e., trait level) pathogen avoidance and endorsement of group-binding moral values and (b) to test whether experimentally activating pathogen avoidance would increase endorsement of group-binding moral values. Across five studies, we replicated the association between chronic pathogen avoidance and endorsement of group-binding moral values. In contrast, situationally activating pathogen avoidance did not produce a consistent effect on endorsement of moral values. Although we saw no consistent evidence for effects of situationally activated pathogen avoidance motives, the evidence linking dispositional pathogen avoidance to group-binding moral values was strong, suggesting fundamental links between chronic pathogen avoidance processes and moral psychology. Public Significance StatementThis study shows that people's moral worldviews are related to how concerned they are about avoiding illness. People who are especially worried about contagious illness are more likely to espouse moral values of obeying authority, being loyal to one's group, and avoiding behaviors viewed as "impure." Although those moral values were associated with people's chronic concerns about illness, they were not increased by laboratory procedures that temporarily increased the salience of illness.

Two longitudinal studies of 233 newlywed couples suggest that automatic attentional and evaluative biases regarding attractive relationship alternatives can help people maintain relationships by avoiding infidelity. Both studies assessed participants' tendency to automatically disengage attention from photos of attractive, opposite sex individuals; one study assessed participants' tendency to devalue those individuals by comparing their attractiveness evaluations to evaluations made by single people, and both studies assessed infidelity and relationship status multiple times for approximately three years. Several sources of devaluation emerged, but only participants' history of short-term sex predicted both biases; having more short-term sexual partners was associated with being slower to disengage attention from attractive alternatives, and, among men, evaluating such individuals more positively. In turn, both processes exerted indirect effects on relationship dissolution by predicting infidelity; being 100 ms faster to disengage attention from attractive alternatives or rating them 2 scale points lower in attractiveness was associated with a decrease in the odds of infidelity of approximately 50%; the effect of devaluation on infidelity was stronger among participants who evidenced steeper declines in marital satisfaction. These associations emerged because unfaithful individuals took longer to disengage attention from attractive alternatives compared with other social targets and did not differ from singles in their evaluations of those alternatives. Among several other predictors of infidelity, partner attractiveness was associated with a decrease in the odds of infidelity among men but not women. These findings suggest a role for basic psychological processes in predicting infidelity, highlight the critical role of automatic processes in relationship functioning, and suggest novel ways to promote relationship success. (PsycINFO Database Record

Here, we present a mechanistically grounded theory detailing a novel function of the behavioral immune system (BIS), the psychological system that prompts pathogen avoidance behaviors. We propose that BIS activity allows the body to downregulate basal inflammation, preventing resultant oxidative damage to DNA and promoting longevity. Study 1 investigated the relationship between a trait measure of pathogen avoidance motivation and in vitro and in vivo proinflammatory cytokine production. Study 2 examined the relationship between this same predictor and DNA damage often associated with prolonged inflammation. Results revealed that greater trait pathogen avoidance motivation predicts a) lower levels of spontaneous (but not stimulated) proinflammatory cytokine release by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), b) lower plasma levels of the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6), and c) lower levels of oxidative DNA damage. Thus, the BIS may promote health by protecting the body from the deleterious effects of inflammation and oxidative stress.