This article examines the relationship between the tightness-looseness of a culture and the variation of COVID-19 cases and deaths through October 2020. With COVID-19 data retrieved from Our World in Data from 57 countries with tightness-looseness figures, the article found the cultures with high levels of tightness had fewer COVID-19 cases and deaths when compared to countries with high levels of looseness. Results suggest support of the evolutionary game theoretic model proposing that people in tight cultures may cooperate with more urgency when under collective threat than people in loose cultures.

This research examines how national culture influences the speed of COVID-19 spread in different countries. Three studies were conducted, and five national cultural dimensions were found to be significantly related to the speed of COVID-19 spread in the initial stages of the pandemic. These dimensions are power distance, uncertainty avoidance, humane orientation, in-group collectivism, and cultural tightness. The research found that COVID-19 spreads faster in countries with small power distance and strong uncertainty avoidance, low humane orientation and high in-group collectivism, and slower in countries with high cultural tightness.

This article explores the following questions: What environmental and cultural factors might explain variation in prejudice across cultures? Do these factors explain the intention to vote for nationalist politicians? The authors perform seven studies, focusing on the link between cultural tightness and the rise of prejudice in cultures. They theorize that cultural tightness is positively correlated with the rise of prejudice against people perceived as disrupting the social order. From this theory, they suggest three hypotheses: 1) cultural variation in tightness is related to cultural variation in prejudice, 2) cultural tightness is related to the support for nationalist politicians, and 3) cultural tightness is a link between ecological threats and prejudice. The results support these hypotheses, offering a cultural evolutionary perspective on prejudice.