The Role of Perceived Risk in the Relationship Between Disgust Sensitivity and COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy.

Background: Despite widespread availability of COVID vaccines and evidence of their efficacy, vaccine hesitancy remains prevalent. Several studies have examined the relationship between disgust sensitivity and vaccine hesitancy. Although results from studies using data collected prior to the COVID pandemic indicate that higher disgust sensitivity is related to greater vaccine hesitancy, results from studies using data collected during the COVID pandemic are equivocal. The present study examined whether perceived risk of contracting COVID moderated the relationship between disgust sensitivity and vaccine hesitancy. Methods: Participants (n = 152) completed self-report measures of disgust sensitivity, perceived risk of contracting COVID, and COVID vaccine hesitancy (defined as both vaccine confidence and vaccine complacency). Results: Perceived risk of contracting COVID significantly moderated the relationship between disgust sensitivity and vaccine complacency, with the association strengthened at low levels of perceived risk. Perceived risk of contracting COVID also marginally moderated the relationship between disgust sensitivity and vaccine confidence, with the association strengthened at low and average levels of perceived risk. Conclusions: Results suggest that individuals with elevated disgust sensitivity who also report low levels of perceived risk of contracting COVID are more likely to express vaccine hesitancy. Implications of these findings are discussed. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10608-023-10391-8.

Is disgust proneness prospectively associated with influenza vaccine hesitancy and uptake?

Although various demographic and psychosocial factors have been identified as correlates of influenza vaccine hesitancy, factors that promote infectious disease avoidance, such as disgust proneness, have been rarely examined. In two large national U.S. samples (Ns = 475 and 1007), we investigated whether disgust proneness was associated with retrospective accounts of influenza vaccine uptake, influenza vaccine hesitancy, and eventual influenza vaccine uptake, while accounting for demographics and personality. Across both studies, greater age, higher education, working in healthcare, and greater disgust proneness were significantly related to greater likelihood of previously receiving an influenza vaccine. In Study 2, which was a year-long longitudinal project, disgust proneness prospectively predicted influenza vaccine hesitancy and eventual vaccine uptake during the 2020-2021 influenza season. Findings from this project expand our understanding of individual-level factors associated with influenza vaccine hesitancy and uptake, highlighting a psychological factor to be targeted in vaccine hesitancy interventions.

Person and situation effects in predicting outgroup prejudice and avoidance during the COVID-19 pandemic

Recent theories of intergroup relations suggest that factors relevant to disease, disgust, and contagion predict prejudice towards ethnic outgroups. The current research explored the influence of contextual pathogen threat and individual differences in threat sensitivity on outgroup prejudice and avoidance in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected from a sample of British adults in June 2020 (N = 524). A multi-level approach was employed to capture differences in confirmed COVID-19 cases across different regions in the UK. Results demonstrated that even in a "strong" pandemic context, individual differences in both disgust sensitivity (DS) and intergroup disgust sensitivity (ITG-DS) explained variability in outgroup distancing. Subjective perceptions of contextual pathogen prevalence, but not actual infection rates, also predicted greater outgroup avoidance. However, a significant cross-level interaction revealed that DS predicted outgroup distancing in regions with higher numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases, but not in areas of lower infection. Thus, individual differences in pathogen avoidance may be especially influential under high situational pathogen stress. There was also some evidence that pathogen threat also predicted greater ingroup attraction. Results provide important insights into factors that promote or inhibit positive intergroup relations during pandemics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Locked Down, Lashing Out: COVID-19 Effects on Asian Hate Crimes in Italy

COVID-19 caused a major health crisis and an economic crisis, conditions identified as conducive to stigmatization and hostility against minority groups. It is however unclear whether the threat of infection triggers hate crimes in addition to stigmatization and whether such a reaction can happen at the onset of an unexpected economic shock, before social hierarchies can be disrupted. Leveraging variation across Italian municipalities, we show that (i) hate crimes against Asians increased substantially at the pandemic onset and that (ii) the increase was concentrated in cities with higher expected unemployment but not higher excess mortality. We then examine individual, local, and national mobilization as potential mechanisms and find evidence suggesting that (iii) a xenophobic national discourse and local far-right institutions motivate hate crimes, while we find no strong support for the role of individual prejudice. Our study identifies new conditions triggering hateful behavior, advancing our understanding of factors hindering migrant integration.

A longitudinal assessment of variability in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and psychosocial correlates in a national United States sample.

Recent evidence suggests that COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is not static. In order to develop effective vaccine uptake interventions, we need to understand the extent to which vaccine hesitancy fluctuates and identify factors associated with both between- and within-person differences in vaccine hesitancy. The goals of the current study were to assess the extent to which COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy varied at an individual level across time and to determine whether disgust sensitivity and germ aversion were associated with between- and within-person differences in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. A national sample of U.S. adults (N = 1025; 516 woman; Mage = 46.34 years, SDage = 16.56, range: 18 to 85 years; 72.6 % White) completed six weekly online surveys (March 20 - May 3, 2020). Between-person mean COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy rates were relatively stable across the six-week period (range: 38-42 %). However, there was considerable within-person variability in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Approximately, 40 % of the sample changed their vaccine hesitancy at least once during the six weeks. There was a significant between-person effect for disgust sensitivity, such that greater disgust sensitivity was associated with a lower likelihood of COVID-19 vaccine hesitance. There was also a significant within-person effect for germ aversion. Participants who experienced greater germ aversion for a given week relative to their own six week average were less likely to be COVID-19 vaccine hesitant that week relative to their own six-week average. This study provides important information on rapidly changing individual variability in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy on a weekly basis, which should be taken into consideration with any efforts to decrease vaccine hesitancy and increase vaccine uptake. Further, these findings identify-two psychological factors (disgust sensitivity and germ aversion) with malleable components that could be leveraged in developing vaccine uptake interventions.

The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on disgust sensitivity in a sample of UK adults.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the introduction of a range of infection prevention and control (IPC) measures that resulted in dramatic changes in people's lives however these IPC measures are not practiced consistently across the population. One predictor of an individual's responses to the pandemic is disgust sensitivity. Understanding how disgust sensitivity varies within the population could help to inform design of public health messages to promote more uniform behavioral change during future pandemics. To understand the effect of the current COVID-19 pandemic on an individual's pathogen disgust sensitivity we have compared pathogen disgust sensitivity during the current COVID-19 pandemic to baseline pathogen disgust sensitivity, determined prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, in the same sample of UK adults. We find that the COVID-19 pandemic did not alter overall pathogen disgust sensitivity suggesting that disgust sensitivity is stable despite IPC measures, public health messaging, media coverage and other factors associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Does COVID-19 threat relate to intergroup attitudes? A test in the U.K

Social and evolutionary psychologists propose that humans have acquired an evolutionary mechanism that facilitates pathogen avoidance behavior: the behavioral immune system (BIS). Previous studies have revealed that the BIS yields negative attitudes toward out-group members. Given the clear relevance of pathogen-avoidance psychology to individuals' reactions to the COVID-19 global pandemic, the present research examined whether attitudes toward potentially pathogenic outgroups during the pandemic would reflect the BIS. Using large-scale panel data (N = 1,548) collected in May 2020 in 3 of the U.K.'s devolved nations (England, Scotland, and Wales), we examined whether perceived COVID-19 threat was associated with negative attitudes toward 2 different national out-groups linked to the initial outbreak (Italy and China), as well as the in-group (the U.K.). Failing to support the BIS hypothesis, mini-meta-analyses on results from the 3 nations revealed that COVID-19 threat was only very weakly associated with attitude toward the U.K., Italy, and China. Results suggest that implications from pathogen psychology might be more limited than previously thought and apply only to specific out-group members.

Contamination fear in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic: A moderated mediation quasi-experimental model of the effect of disgust on outgroup bias towards diaspora.

Disgust sensitivity plays a key role in generating and maintaining outgroup biases. To test our hypotheses, we used a quasi-experimental between-subjects design, in which participants were randomly assigned to a disgust induction condition (N = 102) or a non-induction neutral group (N = 92). The induction scenario featured the return of the diaspora to their home country due to COVID-19 concerns. In one scenario, the diaspora lied about the country they arrived from, and in the other, there was no moral transgression. We hypothesized that the effect of disgust sensitivity on dehumanization and aggressive tendencies passed through contamination fear and the moderated mediation model indicated that this indirect effect was stronger for participants in the disgust-induction than in the non-induction group. This effect was found for biological dehumanization and passive aggression outcomes, both related to outgroup bias. Consistent with the role of disgust as a disease-avoidance mechanism, our results suggest that disgust could facilitate stronger outgroup bias in the context of a high health threat, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Helping While Social Distancing: Pathogen Avoidance Motives Influence People's Helping Intentions during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The behavioral immune system (BIS) theory suggests that pathogen avoidance motives relate to greater behavioral avoidance against social interactions that pose potential risks of pathogen transmission. Based on the BIS theory, pathogen avoidance motives would decrease people's helping behavior towards others. However, would pathogen avoidance motives decrease all types of helping behavior towards others during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (i.e., COVID-19) pandemic indiscriminately? In the present study, we conducted a within-subjects design to compare people's helping intentions toward voluntary work with and without social contact. Specifically, participants (N = 1562) completed an online survey at the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic in China measuring pathogen disgust sensitivity, state anxiety, and intentions to perform volunteer work with and without social contact. Results revealed that pathogen disgust sensitivity negatively predicted intentions to perform voluntary work with social contact yet had no influence on intentions to perform socially distanced voluntary work. Moreover, the effect of pathogen disgust sensitivity on socially distanced volunteering preference was mediated by the state anxiety people experienced during the pandemic. The findings have implications for understanding people's helping behavior during the pandemic.

Deontological Guilt and Disgust Sensitivity Modulate Moral Behaviour.

OBJECTIVE: Deontological Guilt (DG), and Altruistic Guilt (AG) emerge from the appraisal of violating an internalized rule or an altruistic principle, respectively. DG is strictly connected with Disgust Sensitivity and plays a key role in the development and maintenance of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Previous studies investigated how DG affects responses to hypothetical moral dilemmas, however how DG and Disgust Sensitivity interact modulating moral behavior is still unknown. METHODS: STUDY 1. 46 healthy participants performed an ecological paradigm in which people can spontaneously decide to lie to obtain a reward (egoistic lie) or give it away (altruistic lie) after three emotional inductions: DG, AG or neutral. Furthermore, OCD traits, Morality, Guilt Propensity and Disgust Sensitivity were assessed by means of questionnaires. STUDY 2. 27 participants from the original sample were retested during the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy to ascertain whether the pandemic modified traits related to morality, disgust, guilt or OCD symptoms and whether these changes modulated moral behavior (measured by a task in which cheating was associated to higher pay-offs). RESULTS: STUDY 1. Compared to the neutral, after the DG induction participants produced less altruistic and more egoistic lies. This effect was stronger in participants with high Disgust Sensitivity. STUDY 2. During the COVID-19 lockdown participants became more sensitive to the Authority pillar of the Moral Foundations and more sensitive to Disgust: this increment in deontological morality affected (im) moral behavior depending on changes in Disgust Sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that people with high Disgust Sensitivity are more affected by deontological inductions which translate to higher immorality, supposedly by lowering their moral self-image. These results might have important clinical implications as they suggest that addressing Disgust Sensitivity in therapy, might also decrease the effect of guilt on patients' behavior.

Women Suffered More Emotional and Life Distress than Men during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Pathogen Disgust Sensitivity.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 has brought upon unprecedented challenges to nearly all people around the globe. Yet, people may differ in their risks of social, economic, and health well-being. In this research, we take a gender-difference approach to examine whether and why women suffered greater emotional and life distress than men at the early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak in China. Using a large nationwide Chinese sample, we found that compared to men, women reported higher levels of anxiety and fear, as well as greater life disturbance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Importantly, that women suffered more was partly explained by their higher level of pathogen disgust sensitivity. Our findings highlight the important consequences of gender differences in response to the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic and suggest that policymakers pay more attention to gender inequalities regarding COVID-19 responses.

On the Nature of Fear and Anxiety Triggered by COVID-19.

Emergencies that occur during natural disasters, such as avalanches, earthquakes, and floods, tend to be sudden, unexpected, and ephemeral and recruit defensive responses, similar to the ones recruited when faced with dangerous animals. Defensive behaviors are triggered by activity in survival circuits that detects imminent threats and fear is the conscious emotion of that follows immediately. But this particular threat (COVID-19) is useable and mysterious, triggering anxieties much more than fear. We conducted a literature search on May 1, 2020 in Google Scholar, PsychInfo, and PubMed with search terms related to COVID-19 fears and found 28 relevant articles. We categorized the papers into six groups based on the content and implications: fear of the unknown, social isolation, hypochondriasis, disgust, information-driven fears, and compliance. Considering the nature of fear and anxiety, combined with the characteristics of the present COVID-19 situation, we contemplate that physicians and other health care workers of several specialties, as well as police officers, fire-fighters, and rescue personnel, and first responders might be more able to deal with COVID-19 if they have (a) some tolerance of the unknown, (b) low illness anxiety disorder, (c) tolerance to social isolation; (d) low levels of disgust sensitivity; (e) be granted financial support, (f) have priority if needed medical assistance (g) use caution relatively to the COVID-19 media coverage and (h) be trained to have high levels of efficacy. Possibilities for preventive and therapeutic interventions that can help both health care personnel and the general population are also discussed.

Keep your (social) distance: Pathogen concerns and social perception in the time of COVID-19.

Previous research suggests that individual differences in pathogen disgust sensitivity and social anxiety predict avoidance behavior, especially of pathogen cues, and reduced tolerance for social ambiguity. Conversely, generalized social trust is associated with approach behavior and a greater tolerance for social ambiguity. We conducted an online study (N = 1078) to test these predictions in the context of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Specifically, we assessed whether individual differences in pathogen disgust sensitivity, social anxiety and generalized social trust predicted judgments of trustworthiness, desired social distance and perceptions of sickness of target faces wearing surgical masks. Our results showed that (a) high sensitivity to pathogen disgust predicted lower judgments of trustworthiness and lower social desirability; (b) high social anxiety predicted higher perceptions of illness and lower judgments of trustworthiness; and (c) generalized social trust predicted higher judgments of trustworthiness and lower perceptions of illness of target faces. Further, we found that mask wearers were perceived as more likely to be ill, more trustworthy and more socially desirable than the same faces presented to a control group, without the surgical mask superimposed. Results are discussed in terms of perceived compliance with an emerging social norm overriding the intrinsic untrustworthiness of masked faces.

Anxiety regarding contracting COVID-19 related to interoceptive anxiety sensations: The moderating role of disgust propensity and sensitivity.

The COVID-19 public health crisis has led to extensive recommendations by officials to contain its spread. Anxiety regarding contracting the virus is prominent in the public. Specific routes to anxiety over disease contraction are under studied. It is expected that a contributory feature of fear of contracting COVID-19 involve disgust propensity and sensitivity, emotional reactions that are part of a broader behavioral immune system (BIS). A total of N = 908 Chinese adults (mean age = 40.37 years, SD = 9.27; n = 752 female) participated in a survey distributed between February 24 and March 15, 2020. Participants completed measures of anxiety sensitivity, disgust propensity and sensitivity, and fear of contracting COVID-19. Results support a moderating relationship between both disgust propensity and sensitivity in the relationship between physical concerns associated with anxiety sensitivity and fear of contracting COVID-19. These results lend support for individual variation in the activation of the BIS. Recommendations for public education to target individuals who may experience mental health consequences from pandemics are provided.