During the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals were advised to adhere to social distancing guidelines limiting physical interpersonal contact. Humans have a suite of adaptations to satisfy belonging needs while avoiding diseased conspecifics. Competition between motivational systems may explain adherence and resistance to social distancing guidelines and how technologically mediated interactions further shape these decisions. This study is a preregistered analysis of data in a representative sample collected during the pandemic investigating how individual differences in affiliative and pathogen-avoidant motives predict interest in physical interactions (N = 2409). Germ aversion predicted disinterest in physical interactions and need to belong predicted interest. Additional analyses revealed technology use satisfied belonging motives that unexpectedly heightened interest in physical contact. Exploratory analyses further indicate that internet speed was similarly associated with greater interest in physical interactions. We frame these results through a competing fundamental social motives framework and discuss how to address future pandemics effectively.

在 COVID-19 大流行期间，建议个人遵守限制身体人际接触的社交距离准则。人类有一套适应性来满足归属感需求，同时避免患病的同种动物。激励系统之间的竞争可以解释对社会疏远准则的遵守和抵制，以及技术介导的互动如何进一步影响这些决定。这项研究是对在大流行期间收集的代表性样本中的数据进行的预注册分析，调查从属和病原体回避动机的个体差异如何预测对身体相互作用的兴趣（N = 2409）。细菌厌恶预示着对身体互动不感兴趣，需要属于预示着的兴趣。额外的分析显示，技术使用令人满意的归属动机，意外地提高了对身体接触的兴趣。探索性分析进一步表明，互联网速度同样与对身体互动的更大兴趣相关。我们通过一个相互竞争的基本社会动机框架来构建这些结果，并讨论如何有效应对未来的流行病。