Spider phobia: Interaction of disgust and perceived likelihood of involuntary physical contact

Abstract

After reading vignettes, a group of spider-phobic girls ( n=18) and a group of nonphobic girls ( n=18) rated the subjective probability of spiders entering their private living space, their tendency to approach and make physical contact, and the subjective probability of spiders doing physical harm. In addition, they indicated their eagerness to eat a favorite food item before as well as after it had been shortly contacted by spiders. In support of the idea that spider phobia results from the convergence of spiders’ disgusting properties and the subjective probability of involuntary contact, phobic girls reported relatively high ratings concerning: (a) the probability of spiders entering their room; (b) spiders’ tendency to approach and make physical contact; and (c) spiders’ disgust-evoking status. Finally, regression analysis indicated that spiders’ disgust-evoking status is the single best predictor of spider phobia, whereas the independent contribution of the perceived probability of spiders doing physical harm was found to be negligible. All in all, the present findings strongly support the idea that spider phobia essentially reflects a fear of physical contact with a disgusting stimulus.