The Behavioral Immune System and Intergroup Bias: Evidence for Asian-Specific Bias at the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

ABSTRACT: Pathogen avoidance has been linked to biases against various groups of people, including ethnic outgroups. The present research explored how a non-hypothetical pathogen threat associated with a specific foreign ecology may differentially prompt biases against different ethnic groups. Two studies used an experimental design to examine how the salience of the COVID-19 threat (in early 2020, before COVID-19 was labeled a pandemic) affected perceptions of targets from different racial groups. Study 1 (N = 375; Prime Panels) found that participants in the COVID-19 threat condition, compared to those in the non-pathogen threat condition, perceived all social targets to be more contagious, with the effect being stronger for Asian targets relative to Latino, Black, and White targets. Study

SUBMITTER: Makhanova A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9013740 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature