Research

For maintenance of health avoiding diseases is a key component. To study disease avoidance we rely of the theory of the behavioral immune system (BIS; Schaller et al., 2006), which is a suite of affective, cognitive, and behavioral processes that function to avoid pathogens and infectious diseases. We study who tends to avoid diseases more, how disease avoidance tendencies associate with other phenomena, and how the mechanisms of disease avoidance operate.

Representative Publications

• Sevi, B. & Shook, N. J. (2025). Sociosexuality is associated with disease avoidance tendencies and can decrease during a real-life disease threat. Current Psychology, 44, 180–193.

• Sevi, B. & Shook, N. J. (2022) The Behavioral Immune System and Use of Transportation Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Transport & Health, 26, 101406.

• Sevi, B. & Shook, N. J. (2021). The relation between disgust sensitivity and risk-taking propensity: A domain specific approach. Judgment and Decision Making, 16(4), 950-968.

Maintenance of good health requires a multifaceted approach. Genetic and physical components (e.g., nutrition, exercise) do have a large explanatory power in explaining health, but another emerging predictor in explaining health and healthy behavior are psychosocial factors. Within this research area we examine how factors like personality traits, certain trait level tendencies, and interpersonal relationships may play a role in explaining health and health related behaviors.

Representative Publications

• Sevi, B., Supiyev, A., Gutierrez, A., Graham, E. K., Mroczek, D. K., & Muniz-Terrera, G. (2025). Big-5 Personality Traits as Predictors of Allostatic Load in Latino Americans: A Longitudinal Study. The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 80(12), gbaf204.

• Sevi, B., Gutierrez, A., & Muniz-Terrera, G. (2024) Underlining neighborhood perception: A possible risk factor for dementia that deserves more attention. Brain Communications, 6(2), fcae037.

• Shook, N. J., Oosterhoff, B., & Sevi, B. (2023) A longitudinal assessment of variability in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and psychosocial correlates in a national U.S. sample. Vaccine, 41(7), 1390-1397.

Close relationships require the communication and interaction of people. Maintaining these relationships in a healthy way may seem very simple and easy, but in reality it is not the case. Each people bring their differences in experiences and attitudes, as well as their unique personalities and individual differences. We study how personality and individual differences explain how relationships can start and maintained.

Representative Publications

• Sevi, B. & Bostancı, İ. (2023). Big Five Personality Traits: Dating Apps. In: Shackelford, T. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior. Springer, Cham.

• Sevi, B. & Dogruyol, B. (2020). Looking from the bright side: The light triad predicts Tinder use for love. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 37(7), 2136-2144.

• Sevi, B., Urganci, B., & Sakman, E. (2020). Who cheats? An examination of light and dark personality traits as predictors of infidelity. Personality and Individual Differences, 164, 110126.