The pathogen stress hypothesis posits that pathogen-related threats influence regional and individual differences in collectivism since behavioral practices associated with collectivism limit the spread of infectious diseases. In support of the hypothesis, previous research demonstrates the association between individualism/collectivism and pathogen stress based on historical records or experimental manipulation. However, it is still unclear whether individuals would indeed value collectivism during the outbreak of infectious diseases. Thus, we investigated the concurrent effects of pathogen-related stress on the endorsement of individualism/collectivism by examining 9322 Koreans for 14 weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results revealed that the level of collectivism among respondents were higher after than before the COVID-19 outbreak. Moreover, the average level of collectivism on a given day showed a significant association with the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on the same day during the outbreak. Interestingly, individualism did not significantly change for the same period.

病原体压力假说认为，与病原体相关的威胁会影响集体主义的区域和个体差异，因为与集体主义相关的行为实践会限制传染病的传播。为了支持该假设，先前的研究基于历史记录或实验操作证明了个人主义/集体主义与病原体压力之间的关联。然而，在传染病爆发期间，个人是否真的会重视集体主义，目前尚不清楚。因此，我们通过对 COVID-19 大流行期间 14 周的 9322 名韩国人进行检查，调查了病原体相关压力对个人主义/集体主义认可的同时影响。结果显示，受访者的集体主义水平在 COVID-19 爆发后高于爆发前。而且，某一天的平均集体主义水平与疫情爆发期间同一天确诊的 COVID-19 病例数显着相关。有趣的是，个人主义在同一时期并没有发生显着变化。