Does knowledge matter? How a target's knowledge of their COVID-19 infection during a violation of preventive policies affects perceived immorality and dehumanization

During the COVID-19 pandemic, behaviours that violated various precautionary policies were recurring. The present research examined how Chinese participants' perception of targets in terms of immorality and dehumanization depends on the target's knowledge of their COVID-19 infection. In Study 1 (N = 223), we manipulated the presentation of the target's knowledge of their COVID-19 infection before violating policies and observed that a target who knew they were infected was perceived as more immoral and less human than a target who knew they were not infected. In Study 2 (N = 267), we replicated this effect and further observed that a target was perceived as less moral and human even when they did not acquire knowledge of their COVID-19 infection until after having violated the policies. Moreover, perceived immorality played a mediating role between the target's knowledge of their COVID-19 infection and dehumanization, which was moderated by risk perception of COVID-19 in Study 2, but not by fear of COVID-19 in Study 1. These findings increase our understanding of the phenomenon of moralization in the context of a pandemic.