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 2 (N = 167; undergraduate sample) found that participants in the COVID-19 threat condition, compared to those in the non-pathogen threat condition, were more likely to categorize Asian (but not Latino, Black, or White) targets as outgroup members in a modified minimal group paradigm. Data suggest that the patterns of biases prompted by pathogen avoidance may dynamically change depending on salient heuristic associations.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40806-022-00321-4.