Comfort with microbe-sharing contact across the COVID-19 pandemic: testing behavioral immune system predictions

Abstract

Theory within the behavioral immune system literature suggests that pathogen-avoidance adaptations should lead to increased contact avoidance under conditions of increased disease salience. The current study examined this hypothesis by assessing whether comfort with microbe-sharing interpersonal contact varied across the COVID-19 pandemic, when disease threats varied in salience. A longitudinal survey was conducted in the Netherlands in four periods, including May 2020 (N = 1003), February 2021 (N = 719), October 2021(N = 554), and June 2022 (N = 530). Results revealed that people reported greater explicit concerns about disease in earlier periods of the pandemic, when COVID-19 was more prevalent in internet searches and caused more deaths. However, comfort with microbe-sharing interpersonal contact was no lower early in the pandemic than later in the pandemic. Across the pandemic, people were more comfortable with microbe-sharing interpersonal contact with higher-valued targets. These findings cast doubt on the possibility that behavioral immune system mechanisms are sensitive to abstract, non-sensory indicators of pathogen threat, such as those characterizing a novel respiratory virus pandemic.