“Death and Love Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic”: Effects of Pathogen Threats on Online Dating and Social Distancing From Life-History Strategy Perspectives
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online March, 2024
“Death and Love Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic”: Effects of Pathogen Threats on Online Dating and Social Distancing From Life-History Strategy Perspectives
Drawing from the terror management theory (TMT) and evolutionary perspectives of Life-History Strategy, a between-subject online experiment examined the interaction effects of pre-existing death anxiety, fear-inducing media content (coronavirus threat vs. gun violence threat vs. low threat mental disorder), and intrasexual competition for mates on online dating intentions and social distancing intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results indicate the interaction effects of participants’ pre-experimental death anxiety and different types of fear-inducing media content on perceived fear and intention to use online dating websites/apps as well as the interaction effects of pre-experimental intrasexual competitiveness and fear-inducing media content on social distancing intention in the context of online dating. Theoretical contributions to the terror management literature and practical implications for the online dating industry are discussed.
AarøeL.OsmundsenM.PetersenM. B. (2016). Distrust as a disease avoidance strategy: individual differences in disgust sensitivity regulate generalized social trust. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1038. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01038
2.
AberJ. L.GershoffE. T.WareA.KotlerJ. A. (2004). Estimating the effects of September 11th and other forms of violence on the mental health and social development of New York City’s youth: a matter of context. Applied Developmental Science, 8(3), 111-129. https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532480xads0803_2
3.
Al-ShawafL.LewisD. M. (2017). Evolutionary psychology and the emotions. In: Zeigler-HillV.ShackelfordT. K. (eds.) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Berlin/Heidelberg, Germany: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_516-1
4.
Al-ShawafL.LewisD. M. G.BussD. M. (2015). Disgust and mating strategy. Behavior, 36, 199-205.
5.
Al-ShawafL.LewisD. M. G.BussD. M. (2018). Sex differences in disgust: why are women more easily disgusted than men? Emotion Review, 10(2), 149-160. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073917709940
6.
Al-ShawafL.LewisD. M. G.GhossainyM. E.BussD. M. (2019). Experimentally inducing disgust reduces desire for short-term mating. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 5(3), 267-275. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-018-0179-z
7.
AlthausS. L (2002). American news consumption during times of national crisis. Political Science and Politics, 35(3), 517-521. https://doi.org/10.1017/s104909650200077x
8.
AnglinS. M. (2014). From avoidance to approach: the effects of mortality salience and attachment on the motivation to repair troubled relationships. Personality and Individual Differences, 66, 86-91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.03.012
9.
AronoffJ. E.DeCaroJ. A. (2019). Life history theory and human behavior: testing associations between environmental harshness, life history strategies, and testosterone. Personality and Individual Differences, 139, 110-115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.11.015
10.
BarroR. J.UrsúaJ. F.WengJ. (2020). The coronavirus and the great influenza pandemic: Lessons from the “Spanish flu” for the coronavirus’s potential effects on mortality and economic activity. Cambridge: National Bureau of Economic Research.
BirnbaumG.HirschbergerG.GoldenbergJ. (2011). Desire in the face of death: terror management, attachment, and sexual motivation. Personal Relationships, 18(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6811.2010.01298.x
13.
BishA.MichieS. (2010). Demographic and attitudinal determinants of protective behaviours during a pandemic: a review. British Journal of Health Psychology, 15(Pt 4), 797-824. https://doi.org/10.1348/135910710X485826.
14.
BogardusE. S. (1925). Measuring social distance. Journal of Applied Sociology, 9299-308.
15.
BremondC. (2011). The Morphology of the French Fairy Tale: The Ethical Model. In: Heda J. and Dimitri S. (Eds). Patterns in Oral Literature, Berlin, New York: De Gruyter Mouton, pp. 49-76. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110810028.49
16.
BrugJ.AroA. R.OenemaA.De ZwartO.RichardusJ. H.BishopG. D. (2004). SARS risk perception, knowledge, precautions, and information sources, The Netherlands. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 10(8), 1486-1489. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1008.040283
17.
BurkeB. L.MartensA.FaucherE. H. (2010). Two decades of terror management theory: a meta-analysis of mortality salience research. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 14(2), 155-195. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868309352321
18.
BussD. M. (1988). From vigilance to violence: tactics of mate retention in American undergraduates. Ethology and Sociobiology, 9(5), 291-317. https://doi.org/10.1016/0162-3095(88)90010-6
19.
BussD. M. (2009). How can evolutionary psychology successfully explain personality and individual differences? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4(4), 359-366. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6924.2009.01138.x
20.
CohanC. L.ColeS. W. (2002). Life course transitions and natural disaster: marriage, birth, and divorce following hurricane Hugo. Journal of Family Psychology: JFP: Journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43), 16(1), 14-25. https://doi.org/10.1037//0893-3200.16.1.14.
21.
CrosbyC. L.DurkeeP. K.MestonC. M.BussD. M. (2020). Six dimensions of sexual disgust. Personality and Individual Differences, 156, 109714. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.109714.
22.
CurtisV.De BarraM.AungerR. (2011). Disgust as an adaptive system for disease avoidance behaviour. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 366(1563), 389-401. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2010.0117
23.
CustersK.Van den BulckJ. (2013). The cultivation of fear of sexual violence in women: processes and moderators of the relationship between television and fear. Communication Research, 40(1), 96-124. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650212440444
24.
DalyM.WilsonM. (2001). Risk-taking, intrasexual competition, and homicide. In FrenchJ. A.KamilA. C.LegerD. W. (Eds.), The Nebraska Symposium on Motivation: Vol. 47. Evolutionary Psychology and Motivation (pp. 1-36). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
25.
DasE.BushmanB. J.BezemerM. D.KerkhofP.VermeulenI. E. (2009). How terrorism news reports increase prejudice against outgroups: a terror management account. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45(3), 453-459. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2008.12.001
26.
DixonT. L. (2008). Crime news and racialized beliefs: understanding the relationship between local news viewing and perceptions of African Americans and crime. Journal of Communication, 58(1), 106-125. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2007.00376.x
27.
FaerL. M.HendriksA.AbedR. T.FigueredoA. J. (2005). The evolutionary psychology of eating disorders: female competition for mates or for status? Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 78(3), 397-417. https://doi.org/10.1348/147608305X42929
FleischmanD. S.HamiltonL. D.FesslerD. M.MestonC. M. (2015). Disgust versus lust: exploring the interactions of disgust and fear with sexual arousal in women. Plos One, 10(6), e0118151. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118151.
30.
FlorianV.MikulincerM. (1998). Terror management in childhood: does death conceptualization moderate the effects of mortality salience on acceptance of similar and different others? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24(10), 1104-1112. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672982410007
31.
FrankeM. L.LersnerU. V.EsselO. Q.AdorjanK.SchomerusG.Gómez-CarrilloA.Tam TaTMT. M.BögeK. K.MobasheryM. M.DettlingM. M.DiefenbacherA. A.AngermeyerM. C. M. C.HahnE. (2019). The relationship between causal beliefs and desire for social distance towards people with schizophrenia and depression: results from a survey of young Ghanaian adults. Psychiatry Research, 271, 220-225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2018.11.030
32.
FrischlichL.RiegerD.DratschT.BenteG. (2015). Meet Joe Black? The effects of mortality salience and similarity on the desire to date in-group versus out-group members online. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 32(4), 509-528. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407514536305
33.
FritscheI.Eva JonasE.FischerP.KoranyiN.BergerN.FleischmannB. (2007). Mortality salience and the desire for offspring. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43(5), 753-762. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2006.10.003
34.
FungH. H.CarstensenL. L. (2006). Goals change when life’s fragility is primed: Lessons learned from older adults, the September 11 attacks and sars. Social Cognition, 24(3), 248-278. https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2006.24.3.248
35.
GaleaS.MerchantR. M.LurieN. (2020). The mental health consequences of COVID-19 and physical distancing: the need for prevention and early intervention. JAMA Internal Medicine, 180(6), 817-818. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2020.1562.
GershoffE. T.AberJ. L.WareA.KotlerJ. A. (2010). Exposure to 9/11 among youth and their mothers in New York city: enduring associations with mental health and sociopolitical attitudes. Child Development, 81(4), 1142-1160. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01459.x
38.
GilliamF. D.IyengarS. (2000). Prime suspects: the influence of local television news on the viewing public. American Journal of Political Science, 44(3), 560-573. https://doi.org/10.2307/2669264
39.
GlickP.FiskeS. T.MladinicA.SaizJ. L.AbramsD.MasserB.AdetounB. B.OsagieJEJ. E.AkandeA. A.AlaoA. A.BrunnerA.WillemsenT. M.ChipetaK.DardenneB.DijksterhuisA.WigboldusD.EckesT.Six-MaternaI.ExpósitoF.López LópezW. (2000). Beyond prejudice as simple antipathy: hostile and benevolent sexism across cultures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(5), 763-775. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.79.5.763
40.
GoldenbergJ. L.McCoyS. K.PyszczynskiT.GreenbergJ.SolomonS. (2000). The body as a source of self-esteem: the effect of mortality salience on identification with one’s body, interest in sex, and appearance monitoring. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(1), 118-130. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.79.1.118
41.
GoodwinR.HaqueS.NetoF.MyersL. B. (2009). Initial psychological responses to influenza A, H1N1 (“Swine Flu”). BMC Infectious Diseases, 9(1), 166. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2334-9-166
42.
GreenbergJ.KosloffS. (2008). Terror management theory: implications for understanding prejudice, stereotyping, intergroup conflict, and political attitudes. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(5), 1881-1894. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2008.00144.x
43.
GreenbergJ.PyszczynskiT.SolomonS. (1986). The causes and consequences of a need for self-esteem: a terror management theory. In Public self and private self (pp. 189-212). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9564-5_10
44.
GreenbergJ.PyszczynskiT.SolomonS.RosenblattA.VeederM.KirklandS.LyonD. (1990). Evidence for terror management theory II: the effects of mortality salience on reactions to those who threaten or bolster the cultural worldview. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58(2), 308-318. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.58.2.308
45.
GreenbergJ.SolomonS.PyszczynskiT. (1997). Terror management theory of self-esteem and cultural worldviews: empirical assessments and conceptual refinements. In Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 29, pp. 61-139). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0065-2601(08)60016-7
46.
GreenwaldA. G.FarnhamS. D. (2000). Using the implicit association test to measure self-esteem and self-concept. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(6), 1022-1038. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.79.6.1022
47.
HeathL.PetraitisJ. (1987). Television viewing and fear of crime: where is the mean world? Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 8(1–2), 97-123. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15324834basp0801&2_7
48.
HenleyN.DonovanR. J. (1999). Threat appeals in social marketing: death as a ‘special case’. International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 4(4), 300-319. https://doi.org/10.1002/nvsm.83
49.
HenrichJ.BoydR.BowlesS.CamererC.FehrE.GintisH.McElreathR. R.AlvardM. M.BarrA. A.EnsmingerJ. J.HenrichN. S.HillK.Gil-WhiteF.GurvenM.MarloweF. W.PattonJ. Q.TracerD. (2005). “Economic man” in cross-cultural perspective: behavioral experiments in 15 small-scale societies. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 28(6), 795-815. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X05000142
50.
JiangX.ElamG.YuenC.VoetenH.de ZwartO.VeldhuijzenI.BrugJ. (2009). The perceived threat of SARS and its impact on precautionary actions and adverse consequences: a qualitative study among Chinese communities in the United Kingdom and The Netherlands. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 16(1), 58-67. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-008-9005-5
51.
JinS. V.RyuE.MuqaddamA. (2019). Romance 2.0 on instagram! “What type of girlfriend would you date? Evolutionary Psychology, 17(1), 1474704919826845. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474704919826845
52.
JonesE. (2020). The psychology of protecting the UK public against external threat: COVID-19 and the Blitz compared. Lancet Psychiatry, 7(11), 991-996. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30342-4
53.
KenrickD. T.GriskeviciusV.NeubergS. L.SchallerM. (2010). Renovating the pyramid of needs: Contemporary extensions built upon ancient foundations. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5(3), 292-314.
54.
KiireS. (2019). A “fast” life history strategy affects intimate partner violence through the Dark Triad and mate retention behavior. Personality and Individual Differences, 140, 46-51.
55.
KurzbanR.LearyM. R. (2001). Evolutionary origins of stigmatization: the functions of social exclusion. Psychological Bulletin, 127(2), 187-208. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.127.2.187
56.
LandauM. J.GreenbergJ.SullivanD.RoutledgeC.ArndtJ. (2009). The protective identity: evidence that mortality salience heightens the clarity and coherence of the self-concept. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45(4), 796-807. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2009.05.013
57.
LaskowskiK. L.MoironM.NiemeläP. T. (2021). Integrating behavior in life-history theory: Allocation versus acquisition?. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 36(2), 132-138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2020.10.017
58.
LauJ. T.KimJ. H.TsuiH. Y.GriffithsS. (2007). Anticipated and current preventive behaviors in response to an anticipated human-to-human H5N1 epidemic in the Hong Kong Chinese general population. BMC Infectious Diseases, 7(1), 18. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2334-7-18
59.
LauJ. T.YangX.TsuiH. Y.PangE. (2004). SARS related preventive and risk behaviours practised by Hong Kong-mainland China cross border travellers during the outbreak of the SARS epidemic in Hong Kong. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 58(12), 988-996. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2003.017483
60.
LowB. S. (1990). Marriage systems and pathogen stress in human societies. American Zoologist, 30(2), 325-340. https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/30.2.325
61.
LowryD. T.NioT. C. J.LeitnerD. W. (2003). Setting the public fear agenda: a longitudinal analysis of network TV crime reporting, public perceptions of crime, and FBI crime statistics. Journal of Communication, 53(1), 61-73. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2003.tb03005.x
62.
LucasM.KoffE. (2013). How conception risk affects competition and cooperation with attractive women and men. Evolution and Human Behavior, 34(1), 16-22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2012.08.001
63.
MahmutM. K.CroyI. (2019). The role of body odors and olfactory ability in the initiation, maintenance and breakdown of romantic relationships–a review. Physiology and Behavior, 207(3), 179-184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2019.05.003
64.
MikulincerMFlorianVHirschbergerG (2003). The existential function of close relationships: introducing death into the science of love. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 7(1), 20-40. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327957PSPR0701_2
NavarreteC. D.FesslerD. M. T.EngS. J. (2007). Elevated ethnocentrism in the first trimester of pregnancy. Evolution and Human Behavior, 28(1), 60-65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2006.06.002
ParkJ. H.FaulknerJ.SchallerM. (2003). Evolved disease-avoidance processes and contemporary anti-social behavior: prejudicial attitudes and avoidance of people with physical disabilities. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 27(2), 65-87. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1023910408854
69.
PhelanJ. E.SanchezD. T.BroccoliT. L. (2010). The danger in sexism: the links among fear of crime, benevolent sexism, and well-being. Sex Roles, 62(1), 35-47. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-009-9711-8.
PlusninN.PeppingC. A.KashimaE. S. (2018). The role of close relationships in terror management: a systematic review and research agenda. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 22(4), 307-346. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868317753505
72.
PoloP. P.Munoz-ReyesJ. A.TapiaA. M. F.WilsonJ. E.TuriéganoE. (2019). Self-perceived mate value influences intrasexual competitiveness attitudes in young people of both sexes. Evolution, Mind and Behaviour, 17(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1556/2050.2018.00004
73.
PratiG.PietrantoniL. (2014). Marriage following the 1997 umbria-marche (Italy) earthquake. Disaster Prevention and Management, 23(1), 12-18. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm-09-2013-0155
RoweK. E. (1979). Feminism and fairy tales. Women’s Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 6(3), 237-257. https://doi.org/10.1080/00497878.1979.9978487
77.
RubinG. J.AmlôtR.PageL.WesselyS. (2009). Public perceptions, anxiety, and behaviour change in relation to the swine flu outbreak: cross sectional telephone survey. British Medical Journal, 339(jul02 3), b2651. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.b2651
78.
SaccoD. F.YoungS. G.HugenbergK. (2014). Balancing competing motives: adaptive trade-offs are necessary to satisfy disease avoidance and interpersonal affiliation goals. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 40(12), 1611-1623. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167214552790
79.
SchallerM. (2006). Parasites, behavioral defenses, and the social psychological mechanisms through which cultures are evoked. Psychological Inquiry, 17(2), 96-101. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327965pli1702_2
80.
SchallerM. (2011). The behavioural immune system and the psychology of human sociality. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 366(1583), 3418-3426. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2011.0029
81.
SchimelJ.SimonL.GreenbergJ.PyszczynskiT.SolomonS.WaxmonskyJ.ArndtJ. (1999). Stereotypes and terror management: evidence that mortality salience enhances stereotypic thinking and preferences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(5), 905-926. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.77.5.905
82.
SchwarzN.BrandJ. F. (1983). Effects of salience of rape on sex role attitudes, trust, and self-esteem in non-raped women. European Journal of Social Psychology, 13(1), 71-76. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2420130105
83.
SolomonS.GreenbergJ.PyszczynskiT. (2000). Pride and prejudice: fear of death and social behavior. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9(6), 200-204. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.00094
84.
StearnsS. C. (1989). Trade-offs in life-history evolution. Functional Ecology, 3(3), 259-268. https://doi.org/10.2307/2389364
SwimJ. K.FergusonM. J.HyersL. L. (1999). Avoiding stigma by association: subtle prejudice against lesbians in the form of social distancing. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 21(1), 61-68. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15324834basp2101_6
88.
TahirH.Rønningsdalen KunstJ.Lackland SamD. (2019). Threat, anti-Western hostility, and violence among European muslims: the mediating role of acculturation. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 73, 74-88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2019.08.001
89.
Taubman-Ben-AriO.FindlerL.MikulincerM. (2002). The effects of mortality salience on relationship strivings and beliefs: the moderating role of attachment style. The British Journal of Social Psychology, 41(3), 419-441. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466602760344296
90.
TemplerD. I. (1970). The construction and validation of a death anxiety scale. The Journal of General Psychology, 82(2d Half), 165-177. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221309.1970.9920634
TsaiY. YLeeJ. J.HsiehW. H. (2014). Determinants of the public intent to receive the seasonal influenza vaccine and protective behaviors: a population-based study in taiwan. Vaccine, 32(49), 6667-6675. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2014.08.080
93.
TyburJ. M.LiebermanD.KurzbanR.DeScioliP. (2013). Disgust: evolved Function and structure. Psychological Review, 120(1), 65-84. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030778
94.
Van VugtM.ParkJ. H. (2009). Guns, germs, and sex: how evolution shaped our intergroup psychology. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 3(6), 927-938. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2009.00221.x
95.
WhiteT. L.CunninghamC. (2017). Sexual preference and the self-reported role of olfaction in mate selection. Chemosensory Perception, 10(1–2), 31-41. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12078-017-9223-9
96.
WismanA.GoldenbergJ. L. (2005). From the grave to the cradle: evidence that mortality salience engenders a desire for offspring. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89(1), 46-61. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.89.1.46
97.
WuQ.YangS.ZhouP. (2019). Disease threat and the functional flexibility of ingroup derogation. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2030. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02030
98.
ZhouX.LiuJ.ChenC.YuZ. (2008). Do children transcend death? An examination of the terror management function of offspring. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 49(5), 413-418. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9450.2008.00665.x
ZlatevskaN.SpenceM. T. (2012). Do violent social cause advertisements promote social change? an examination of implicit associations. Psychology and Marketing, 29(5), 322-333. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.20524
