In this study, we examine how perceived vulnerability to disease, psychological resilience, and disgust sensitivity are affected by changing social conditions during the pandemic. We collected data from 314 participants at four different time points, reflecting varying government restrictions and actual morbidity/fatality rates. We found that disgust sensitivity and psychological resilience remained robust to changing social conditions. However, perceived vulnerability to disease fluctuated over time. People reported feeling more vulnerable when external conditions were inconsistent, such as high case numbers with low government restrictions or vice versa. Pathogen disgust sensitivity emerged as the primary predictor of perceived vulnerability to disease dimensions: Perceived Infectability and Germ Aversion. Psychological resilience showed only a weak relationship with Germ Aversion. In conclusion, the traits that influence how we cope in threatening environment, namely disgust sensitivity and psychological resilience, remain unaffected by the social conditions during the pandemic. Perceived vulnerability to disease, on the other hand, is more sensitive to environmental changes and can be partially predicted by disgust sensitivity and psychological resilience. Notably, although both disgust sensitivity and perceived vulnerability to disease are parts of the behavioural immune system, they differ in their response to environmental factors. Disgust sensitivity remains stable over time, regardless of the government restrictions or pandemic cases, whereas perceived vulnerability to disease is influenced by the external factors.

在这项研究中，我们研究了大流行期间社会条件变化如何影响人们对疾病的脆弱性、心理弹性和厌恶敏感性。我们在四个不同时间点收集了 314 名参与者的数据，反映了不同的政府限制和实际发病率/死亡率。我们发现，厌恶敏感性和心理弹性对于不断变化的社会条件仍然保持强劲。然而，人们对疾病的脆弱性感知随着时间的推移而波动。人们表示，当外部条件不一致时，例如病例数多而政府限制少，反之亦然，人们会感到更加脆弱。病原体厌恶敏感性成为感知疾病脆弱性的主要预测因素：感知感染性和细菌厌恶。心理弹性与细菌厌恶的关系很弱。总之，影响我们如何应对威胁环境的特征，即厌恶敏感性和心理弹性，在大流行期间仍然不受社会条件的影响。另一方面，对疾病的感知脆弱性对环境变化更加敏感，并且可以通过厌恶敏感性和心理弹性来部分预测。值得注意的是，尽管厌恶敏感性和对疾病的感知脆弱性都是行为免疫系统的一部分，但它们对环境因素的反应不同。无论政府的限制或大流行情况如何，厌恶敏感性随着时间的推移保持稳定，而对疾病的感知脆弱性则受到外部因素的影响。