Abstract
BackgroundThere are currently roughly 10,000 Germans on the organ waiting list, and that number is over 113,000 in the USA. There is a clear need to increase support for organ donation in general and to increase the number of registered donors in particular.ObjectiveThe current study examines the relationship between disgust sensitivity and attitudes towards organ donation and the possession of an organ donor card. The study also examines other important correlates of attitudes towards organ donation, such as fear, trust, and knowledge regarding organ donation.DesignThe study involved an online questionnaire.ParticipantsSix hundred and eighteen Germans filled out an online questionnaire.Main MeasuresThe questionnaire contained the following measures: attitude towards organ donation, disgust sensitivity, trust towards the medical community, fear of organ donation, and knowledge regarding organ donation, as well as such demographic information as age, biological sex, degree of formal education, religious affiliation and level of religiosity, political orientation, and possession of an organ donor card.Key ResultsThe results replicated previous findings regarding the influence of trust and fear on attitudes towards organ donation, but only partially supported those regarding the importance of knowledge. Importantly, disgust sensitivity had a significant impact on attitudes towards organ donation, even after controlling for other variables hereto identified as important correlates in the literature (e.g., fear, trust, knowledge). What is more, there was a significant interaction between biological sex and disgust sensitivity indicating that the relationship between disgust sensitivity and attitudes towards organ donation was stronger among women than men.ConclusionsWhile disgust is often disregarded as a “silly,” bairnish emotion and unbefitting of discussions of serious issues such as organ donation, in line with the “affective turn” in psychology, the results of the current study suggest that in order to improve attitudes towards organ donation, we should take feelings of disgust seriously.
Highlights
There are currently roughly 10,000 Germans on the organ waiting list, and that number is over 113,000 in the USA
All participants who stated they were neither born in Germany nor had German citizenship were excluded from further analysis (n = 33)
The majority of participants identified as belonging to no religion (55.6%), followed by Christians (44.4%)
Summary
There are currently roughly 10,000 Germans on the organ waiting list, and that number is over 113,000 in the USA. OBJECTIVE: The current study examines the relationship between disgust sensitivity and attitudes towards organ donation and the possession of an organ donor card. The study examines other important correlates of attitudes towards organ donation, such as fear, trust, and knowledge regarding organ donation. MAIN MEASURES: The questionnaire contained the following measures: attitude towards organ donation, disgust sensitivity, trust towards the medical community, fear of organ donation, and knowledge regarding organ donation, as well as such demographic information as age, biological sex, degree of formal education, religious affiliation and level of religiosity, political orientation, and possession of an organ donor card. Disgust sensitivity had a significant impact on attitudes towards organ donation, even after controlling for other variables hereto identified as important correlates in the literature (e.g., fear, trust, knowledge). CONCLUSIONS: While disgust is often disregarded as a “silly,” bairnish emotion and unbefitting of discussions of serious issues such as organ donation, in line with the “affective turn” in psychology, the results of the current study suggest that in order to improve attitudes towards organ donation, we should take feelings of disgust seriously
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