2.2.4. The perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD) scale

To measure the activation of the behavioral immune system, we used the PVD scale. The PVD scale is a measure assessing participants perceived susceptibility to catching infectious disease and their aversion to pathogens [8]. The PVD consists of 15-items divided into two subscales. The Germ Aversion subscale (GA; 8 items; alpha = 0.81) measures aversive response in relation to potential pathogen transmission (e.g., “I prefer to wash my hands pretty soon after shaking someone's hand”). The Perceived Infectability subscale (PI; 7 items; alpha = 0.78) measures perceived susceptibility to infectious diseases in general (e.g., “I am more likely than the people around me to catch an infectious disease”). Germ Aversion predicts responses rooted in intuitive emotional appraisals of risk, whereas Perceived Infectability predicts responses informed by more rational cognitive appraisals. All ratings of items were made on a scale ranging from 1 (“strongly disagree”) to 7 (“strongly agree”). A total score for each subscale was created by adding up each item score. Higher scores reflect greater germ aversion or perceived infectability.