The behavioural immune system and pandemic psychology: the evolved psychology of disease-avoidance and its implications for attitudes, behaviour, and public health during epidemic outbreaks

ABSTRACT This article provides an overview of the “behavioural immune system” – a suite of psychological mechanisms that complements immunological defences by motivating pre-emptive behavioural responses to infection threats – and summarises research documenting its implications for social attitudes and social behaviour. This summary focuses on four domains of phenomena: interpersonal interactions, stigma and prejudice, conformity, and political attitudes. Then, drawing on this conceptual and empirical background, the article discusses consequences that disease outbreaks (such as the COVID-19 pandemic) may have for individuals’ attitudes and actions, and the further consequences that these attitudes and actions might plausibly have for population-level epidemiological and public health outcomes.