To limit the transmission of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), it is important to understand the sources of social behavior for members of the general public. However, there is limited research on how basic psychological dispositions interact with social contexts to shape behaviors that help mitigate contagion risk, such as social distancing. Using a sample of 89,305 individuals from 39 countries, we show that Big Five personality traits and the social context jointly shape citizens' social distancing during the pandemic. Specifically, we observed that the association between personality traits and social distancing behaviors were attenuated as the perceived societal consensus for social distancing increased. This held even after controlling for objective features of the environment such as the level of government restrictions in place, demonstrating the importance of subjective perceptions of local norms.

为限制 2019 年冠状病毒病 (COVID-19) 的传播，了解公众成员的社会行为来源非常重要。然而，关于基本心理倾向如何与社会环境相互作用以塑造有助于减轻传染风险的行为（例如社会距离）的研究有限。我们使用来自 39 个国家/地区的 89,305 人作为样本，共同证明了大五人格特质和社会背景在大流行期间塑造公民的社会距离。具体来说，我们观察到，随着对社交距离的社会共识的增加，人格特质与社交距离行为之间的关联减弱了。即使在控制了环境的客观特征（例如政府实施的限制水平）之后，这种情况仍然存在，表明了对当地规范的主观认知的重要性。