Ideologically‐based contact avoidance during a pandemic: Blunt or selective distancing from ‘others’?

This project sought to understand when ideology is relevant (or not) predicting contact avoidance of ‘others’ during the COVID-19 pandemic. Right-leaning ideologies (political conservatism, right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation) were not expected predict greater per se, but rather exhibit selective outgroup (vs. ingroup) members. White British participated in one exploratory (Study 1 N = 364) and two pre-registered 2 431, Study 3 700) studies. As expected, right-leaning significantly stronger predictors preferred personal distance discomfort regarding foreign outgroups Studies (partially supported 2). Ideology rarely predicted ingroup reactions. × Target pattern was itself moderated by perceived threat. Pre-pandemic theorizing that heightened behavioural immune system responses are associated with appear insufficient for use actual pandemic contexts, especially highly politicized.