Cleanliness and prejudice in times of pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to restrictions in our contact with others and the introduction of social distancing barriers. These rules can enhance the psychological mechanisms resulting from fear of contamination and may lead to exacerbating prejudiced attitudes towards certain social groups seen as possible carriers of infection. Fear of infection and ideas about cleanliness and dirtiness have indeed historically and culturally influenced the way we interact with other people, both on an inter-personal and inter-group level. The aim of the present research is to analyse whether the concern about COVID-19 is linked to prejudices towards other social groups and whether this relationship is mediated by individual representations of cleanliness. Results on 251 Italian citizens showed that concerns about COVID-19 are positively related to prejudicial attitudes towards immigrants and that such a relation is indeed mediated by so-called cultural representations of cleanliness. Specifically, the so-called cultural representations of hygiene-by which people and groups are categorized as being more or less civilized on the basis of their cleaning practices-was a significant mediator. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.