Association between stereotypical perceptions of persons infected with COVID-19 and individual differences in behavioral immune system

Abstract

During the spread of COVID-19, prejudice and discrimination against infected persons, their family members, close contacts, and health care workers have become a problem. In this study, we investigated stereotypical perceptions of persons infected with COVID-19 and examined their association with individual differences in behavioral immune system activation. The results showed that the stereotypical perceptions of persons infected with COVID-19 were low sociality and high activity. Next, we examined the effect of infection vulnerability awareness on stereotypical perceptions. The results showed that the stronger the germ aversion, the stronger the perceived lack of infection prevention behaviors, the lower the perceived sociality of the persons infected with COVID-19, and the higher their own perceived infection prevention behaviors. The content of the stereotypes of the persons infected with COVID-19 and the factors influencing these stereotypes were discussed.