Disease, perceived infectability and threat reactivity: A COVID-19 study
Lou Safra, A. Sijilmassi, Coralie Chevallier
Abstract
Using a two-wave online experiment, we investigate whether COVID-19 exposure changes participants' threat-detection threshold. Threat reactivity was measured in a signal detection task among 277 British adults who also reported how vulnerable they felt to infectious diseases. Participants' data were then matched to the local number of confirmed COVID-19 cases announced by the NHS every day. We found that participants who perceive themselves as more likely to catch infectious diseases displayed higher threat reactivity in response to increased COVID-19 cases.
Topics & Concepts
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)Reactivity (psychology)Psychology2019-20 coronavirus outbreakSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)Infectious disease (medical specialty)Clinical psychologyDiseaseMedicineVirologyInternal medicineOutbreakPathologyAlternative medicinePsychology of Moral and Emotional JudgmentCultural Differences and ValuesDeath Anxiety and Social Exclusion