Levels Of Disgust Research Articles

EXPRESS: Disgust drivers do not impact on the altered body in action representation in anorexia nervosa.

Disgust is a powerful emotion, that evolved to protect us from contamination and diseases; it also cores to very human feelings, such as shame. In anorexia nervosa, most of the knowledge on disgust regards food. However, disgust can be elicited by varied drivers, including body-related self-disgust, which may be more central to this condition. Here, we investigate in depth how disgust triggers related to the body influence altered representations in anorexia nervosa.Women with anorexia nervosa and healthy women performed the Hand Laterality Task, in which they were asked to judge the laterality of hands without and with a disgust charging feature (i.e. with a body product or with a body violation). We computed accuracy and reaction time for the effect of biomechanical constraints, an index of motor imagery. We also measured the general disgust sensitivity through a self-report questionnaire.Participants with anorexia nervosa were overall less accurate and slower compared to controls, suggesting a non-canonical (i.e. not based on motor imagery) approach to solving the task. However, they showed the same pattern of responses as controls for disgust-charged stimuli, despite reporting higher levels of disgust sensitivity.Our results suggested the absence of specific effects of disgust drivers on the (altered) body in action representation in anorexia nervosa. We discuss this evidence focusing on the role of the psychopathological symptoms characterizing anorexia nervosa. We also reflect on the efficacy of experimental methodologies used to detect alterations in body representation in this clinical condition.

The role of emotions in collective responses to in-group norm violations: the case of university’s sensitivity to the natural environment norm

The primary objective of this study was to examine the influence of perceptions of environmental in-group norm violations and the associated emotions on the level of support for environmental social movements. Particularly, we examined the association between collective action intentions and the emotions of anger, disgust, guilt, and pride elicited in response to the violation of in-group pro-environmental norms. There were 221 undergraduate participants (154 females, 62 males, 5 non-binary) studying at a Turkish state university, where preserving on-campus environment is perceived as the norm. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions in which on-campus environmental norms were violated or adopted by their peers (i.e., in-group members). Then, their perceptions of norm-violation, emotions about their peers’ on-campus environmental behaviors, and collective action intentions in improving campus’s environmental circumstances were measured. We used structural equation modeling to test the hypothesized links between the study variables. Our findings revealed that participants exhibited high levels of norm violation anger, guilt, and disgust and low levels of pride when their peers were presented as polluters. Only anger and pride were found to be influential in motivating intentions for collective actions. Norm violation perception by itself was not instrumental in mobilizing individuals for the sake of the environment. When coupled with feelings of anger and pride, its association with endorsing intentions for environmental collective action became significant. The current findings shed light on the emotions associated with norm violation and their potential to foster pro-environmental collective action.

Long-term disgust habituation with limited generalisation in care home workers.

Countless workers handle bodily effluvia and body envelope violations every working day, and consequentially face deeply unpleasant levels of disgust. Understanding if and how they adapt can help inform policies to improve worker satisfaction and reduce staff turnover. So far, limited evidence exist that self-reported disgust is reduced (or lower to begin with) among those employed in high-disgust environments. However, it is unclear if this is due to demand effects or translates into real behavioural changes. Here, we tested healthcare assistants (N = 32) employed in UK care homes and a control sample (N = 50). We replicated reduced self-reported pathogen disgust sensitivity in healthcare workers compared to controls. We also found it negatively correlated with career duration, suggesting long-term habituation. Furthermore, we found that healthcare assistants showed no behavioural disgust avoidance on a web-based preferential looking task (equivalent to eye tracking). Surprisingly, this extended to disgust elicitors found outside care homes, suggesting generalisation of disgust habituation. While we found no difference between bodily effluvia (core disgust) and body envelope violations (gore disgust), generalisation did not extend to other domains: self-reported sexual and moral disgust sensitivity were not different between healthcare assistants and the control group, nor was there a correlation with career duration. In sum, our work confirms that people in high-frequency disgust employment are less sensitive to pathogen disgust. Crucially, we provide preliminary evidence that this is due to a process of long-term habituation with generalisation to disgust-elicitors within the pathogen domain, but not beyond it.

Emotions for a novel health food: Is there an impact bias and can it be reduced?

Eating decisions may be influenced by an impact bias, or the tendency to overestimate the intensity and duration of emotions for future events or outcomes. In this study, we tested the impact bias, among college students, for eating a novel health food – kale chips. We also examined how an emotion adaptation recall exercise influenced emotions and eating behavior. After reading about the health benefits of kale, college students (N = 80) reported their anticipated emotions (e.g., how intensely they would experience each emotion) for eating kale chips. Following a control (n = 40) or emotion adaptation (n = 40) writing exercise, they were asked to eat these chips. They then reported their experienced emotions (e.g., how intensely they experienced each emotion) as well as their intentions to eat kale in the future. Findings indicated that participants showed a negative impact bias in which they anticipated more intense negative emotions than they experienced. However, they showed an opposite effect for positive emotions, anticipating lower positive emotion than they experienced. Relative to the control group, those who did an emotion adaptation exercise experienced lower levels of disgust after eating kale chips and reported higher intentions to eat them in the future. Subsequent analyses of consumption revealed that those in the emotion adaptation condition also ate more of the kale chips. Findings suggest that affective forecasting theory may be a useful framework through which to develop and test ideas about emotions and eating in the context of novel health foods.

Contamination-Focussed Vignettes as an Analogue of Infectious Pandemics: An Experimental Validation using the State Disgust and Anxiety Responses in OCD.

Despite infectious pandemics proving particularly detrimental to those with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), the investigation of analogous experimental paradigms is lacking. To address this gap, we conducted two studies employing vignettes that depicted contamination-related situations commonly experienced during a pandemic (e.g., Coughing into hands and failing to use hand sanitizer). We manipulated the salience of these vignettes across three levels: high contamination, low contamination, and a neutral control condition. Our examination of state anxiety and disgust responses in all participants revealed the successful manipulation of the vignettes' impact. Specifically, individuals with more severe OCD symptoms reported significantly higher levels of state disgust and anxiety for both high and low contamination vignettes, in contrast to the group with lower symptom severity. No significant differences were observed in the neutral vignette condition between the high- and low-scoring groups. Interestingly, for those with higher OCD symptoms, high salience contamination-focused vignettes resulted in similarly elevated state disgust and anxiety, regardless of whether the vignettes were situated in public (Study 1) or domestic (Study 2) settings. This suggests that the heightened sensitivity to contamination-related scenarios observed in individuals with OCD symptoms in the present study is not confined to a specific context. These findings support the use of contamination-focused vignettes as analogues for studying infectious pandemics and provide valuable insights into OCD models, interventions, and future research.

Disgust responses to virtual erotica: Analysis of their interaction with sexual anxiety and immersive tendencies

Previous research suggests that experiencing disgust in sexual contexts may negatively impact sexual satisfaction and functioning. However, little is known about the mechanisms (e.g., sexual anxiety) that influence or underlie sex-related disgust. Additionally, immersive tendencies may play a role in shaping emotional experiences when presented with sexual cues. Recent technological advancements, especially in virtual reality (VR), offer a promising avenue to explore emotions in simulated intimate and sexual interactions. This study aimed to examine the influence of sexual anxiety and immersive tendencies on reported levels of disgust when exposed to virtual erotica. A sample of 59 participants (≥ 18 years) completed self-report questionnaires of sexual anxiety and immersive tendencies. Levels of disgust were assessed during exposure to synthetic virtual characters engaging in erotic behaviours of increasing intensity across six scenarios, ranging from flirting to nudity, masturbation, and orgasm. Linear mixed models were performed on observed data. Higher levels of sexual anxiety were significantly associated with increased disgust throughout the immersive experience (β = 0.48), while greater immersive tendencies were significantly linked to lower disgust ratings (β = −0.66). Additionally, disgust ratings significantly increased with the intensity of the virtual sexual stimuli (β = 0.48). Virtual erotica shows promise as a tool to investigate sex-related disgust and its related mechanisms, such as sexual anxiety and immersive tendencies.

Integrating Compassion into EMDR for PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often involves feeling-states of shame and self-loathing. Traditional exposure-based treatments, which are effective for fear-based PTSD, are sometimes limited in effectiveness when working with these emotional experiences: clients with high levels of shame, guilt, or disgust may experience ‘blocks’ in processing when attempting eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). Developed to help people who suffer from pervasive shame and self-attack, compassion focused therapy (CFT) is based upon an evolutionary framework, and draws on research from human neurobiology and attachment theory to understand how humans respond to different types of threat. This paper describes a protocol for integrating compassion focused techniques into EMDR therapy with the aim of facilitating adaptive information processing. Two case examples outline the use of the protocol and describe clients’ reflections on the process. We suggest that CFT approaches can be successfully integrated with EMDR when working with experiences of shame and self-blame.

Pathogen disgust is associated with interpersonal bias among healthcare professionals.

Pathogen avoidance is a fundamental motive that shapes many aspects of human behavior including bias against groups stereotypically linked to disease (e.g. immigrants, outgroup members). This link has only been examined in convenience samples and it is unknown how pathogen avoidance processes operate in populations experiencing prolonged and heightened pathogen threat such as healthcare professionals. We examined whether healthcare professionals demonstrate the same link between pathogen disgust and intergroup bias as has been documented among the general population. Participants (N = 317; 210 healthcare professionals) were recruited using snowball sampling to take an online survey. Participants completed the Three Domain Disgust Scale to assess pathogen, sexual and moral disgust. Participants then rated their perceptions of a fictitious immigrant group ('Krasneeans') and the degree to which they endorsed group-binding moral values. Compared to control participants, healthcare professionals reported lower levels of pathogen disgust, but not sexual or moral disgust. However, regardless of profession, higher pathogen disgust was associated with viewing Krasneeans as less likeable and more unclean. Additionally, regardless of profession, higher pathogen disgust was associated with greater endorsement of group-binding moral values, although healthcare professionals reported greater overall endorsement of group-binding moral values than did control participants. Although healthcare professionals demonstrated lower levels of pathogen disgust, they nevertheless exhibited largely the same relationship between pathogen disgust and interpersonal biases as did control participants. One practical implication of this association is that pathogen avoidance motives may contribute to inequitable patient treatment in healthcare settings.

Spit, Disgust, and Parasite Stress Theory: A Message Experiment

Public health interventions targeting coughing and spitting during the Tuberculosis and 1918 flu epidemics were largely successful. Specifically, public health officials’ messaging framed the behavior of spitting as repulsive and endangering to others, prompting an elicitation of disgust. Anti-spitting campaigns – messaging that focuses on the threat of spit or sputum – have long been common during pandemics and manifested once again to combat the spread of COVID-19. Yet, few scholars have theorized if and how anti-spitting campaigns function to change behavior. One possibility is parasite stress theory, which posits that human behavior is driven by a desire to avoid pathogenic threats like spit. The application of these types of disgust appeals in public health messaging remains understudied and warrants exploration. To test the applicability of the parasite stress theory, our message experiment with US adults (N = 488) examined reactions to anti-spit messages that varied in visual disgust (low and high). For more highly educated respondents, the high disgust appeal directly decreased spitting intentions, and this relationship was stronger for individuals with higher levels of pathogen and moral disgust. Given the importance of public messaging during pandemics, future research should continue to examine the efficacy and theoretical underpinnings of specific disgust appeals.

Emotional State of Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights from the Cognitive and Social Well-Being (CoSoWELL) Corpus

ABSTRACT Objectives In view of the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, psychologists face a challenge to document the pandemic-related change in emotional well-being of individuals and groups and evaluate the emotional response to this fallout over time. Methodsp We contribute to this goal by analyzing the new CoSoWELL corpus (version 2.0), an 1.8 million-word collection of narratives written by over 1,300 older adults (55+ y.o.) in eight sessions before, during and after the global lockdown. In the narratives, we examined a range of linguistic variables traditionally associated with emotional well-being and observed signs of distress, i.e., lower positivity and heightened levels of fear, anger, and disgust. Results In most variables, we observed a characteristic timeline of change, i.e., a delayed (by 4 months) and abrupt drop in optimism and increase in negative emotions that reached its peak about 7 months after the lockdown and returned to pre-pandemic levels one year after. Our examination of risk factors showed that higher levels of self-reported loneliness came with elevated levels of negative emotions but did not change the timeline of emotional response to the pandemic. Conclusions We discuss implications of the findings for theories of emotion regulation.

Fear of Fat Moderates the Association between Contamination Disgust and Eating Concerns

Introduction: Certain forms of disgust, specifically contamination disgust, may represent risk factors for eating psychopathology such as eating concerns (e.g., cognitive distress/worries surrounding eating). Furthermore, anti-fat attitudes, specifically fear of fat, may increase risk for eating concerns. However, research has yet to investigate these risk factors together despite notable associations between these constructs and eating concerns. Therefore, this study examined associations between contamination disgust and eating concerns, with fear of fat moderating these associations. Furthermore, these associations were examined with other eating psychopathology outcomes to investigate if theoretical relationships between focal predictors would generalize to other forms of eating psychopathology. Methods: Participants were 173 females (Mage = 18.9; SD = 1.00; Range = 18-23) from a Midwestern university in the United States. Analyses examined associations of contamination disgust, fear of fat, and their interaction with eating disorder symptoms. Results: Simple slopes revealed that contamination disgust was not significantly associated with eating concerns at low fear of fat. However, at high fear of fat, contamination disgust was significantly positively associated with eating concerns. These interactions were not significant when predicting shape concerns, weight concerns, or restraint. Discussion: Results suggest that contamination disgust and fear of fat may be risk factors for eating concerns and that these variables should potentially be modeled in tandem. Screening for fear of fat among clients likely to report high levels of contamination disgust may provide indirect information on these clients’ comorbid eating concerns. Future research should examine if current associations generalize to other populations outside of college-aged women.

Pandemic elevates sensitivity to moral disgust but not pathogen disgust

The behavioral immune system, with disgust as its motivational part, serves as the first line of defense in organisms’ protection against pathogens. Laboratory studies indicate that disgust sensitivity adaptively adjusts to simulated environmental threat, but whether disgust levels similarly change in response to real-life threats, such as a pandemic, remains largely unknown. In a preregistered within-subject study, we tested whether the threat posed by the Covid-19 pandemic would lead to increased perceived disgust. The perception of threat was induced by testing during two phases of the Covid-19 pandemic (periods of high vs. low pathogen threat). We found heightened levels of moral disgust during a “wave” of the pandemic, but the effect was not observed in the domain of pathogen or sexual disgust. Moreover, the age of respondents and levels of trait anxiety were positively associated with pathogen and moral disgust, suggesting that variation in disgust sensitivity may be based chiefly on stable characteristics.

Factors affecting willingness and future intention to eat insects in students of an edible insect course

Interest in insects as food has increased globally over the last decade. Factors affecting willingness to eat insects in countries without traditions of edible insects have been studied predominantly in Europe, and with a predominant focus on consumer attributes such as levels of food neophobia or disgust. This study examined attitudes in Taiwan, where edible insects are not commonly consumed, and included attributes of edible insects as a food innovation, using Diffusion of Innovations Theory as the framework to model explanatory variables affecting consumer choice. These choices not only included willingness to eat insect products in varying levels of disguise, but also the desire, intention, and probability of actually eating insects within the next month, in order to identify factors affecting passive rejection from lack of supply instead of active rejection. Taiwanese students of an edible insect course were surveyed on their willingness and intention to eat insects, and their views towards novel foods, insects in general, and insects as food. Food neophobia and levels of disgust or fear of insects had the strongest effects on respondent willingness and intent to eat insects. Processed insect products were seen as more acceptable, yet also riskier and less acceptable to less innovative consumers. Concern over the environmental footprint of one’s diet correlated with a willingness to replace traditional meat with insects, but otherwise was not a significant predictor of likelihood to eat insects. Variables related to insect product supply such as trialability and observability were not significant, but perceived approval or disapproval from peers and family strongly correlated with willingness to eat insects. Strongly neophobic and entomophobic consumers may remain unwilling to add insects to their diets even if they are educated on the rationale for doing so.

COVID-19 vaccination intention: The combined role of pathogen disgust and trust in government.

The present study aimed to investigate the joint effect of pathogen disgust and trust in government on COVID-19 vaccination intention and to examine the mediating role of COVID-19 worry. The data was collected from July to September 2021 in mainland China by using Questionnaire Star, 2,244 valid cases were obtained among a total of 2,251 participants investigated, with an effective rate of 89.37%. The results indicated the following: (1) Individuals' COVID-19 vaccination intention was significantly higher when "congruence was high" than when "congruence was low", given comparable levels of pathogen disgust and trust in government. (2) There were no significant differences in individual COVID-19 vaccination intention with incongruence levels of pathogen disgust and trust in government. (3) The combination of pathogen disgust and trust in government can influence COVID-19 vaccination intention through COVID-19 worry. Findings illustrate that individuals with high trust in government and pathogen disgust have higher intentions. Trust in government and pathogen disgust positively predicted COVID-19 worry and reinforced individuals' intention to COVID-19 vaccination. The results have important implications for the future prevention and control of the new coronavirus, as well as providing a new perspective on COVID-19 vaccination intentions.

Explicitness, disgust, and safe sex behavior: A message experiment with U.S. adults

Sexual health risks are challenging to communicate given the potential negative reactions of target audiences to explicit language. Grounded in research on pathogen avoidance, the current study examined the impact of varying levels of explicit language on message perceptions and safe sex behavioral intentions. U.S. adults (N = 498) were randomly assigned to view messages detailing pandemic safe sexual behavior that contained either low or high levels of explicit language. High explicit language significantly increased perceived disgust which also indirectly linked high explicit language with increased intentions to engage in safe sex behavior. Individual difference variables moderated the impact of message explicitness; dispositional hygiene disgust moderated the impact of high explicit, hygiene-focused messages on safe sex intentions. Those with relatively low levels of dispositional disgust were more positively impacted by explicit language. The results suggest the value of increased message explicitness for sexual health communication and have implications for pathogen avoidance behaviors, the behavioral immune system, and dispositional and affective forms of disgust.

Visible skin disease symptoms of another person reduce automatic imitation of their hand movements.

Imitation is an important mechanism for social interaction and learning, and humans tend to imitate others automatically. While imitating others is often useful, it can backfire when imitation is incongruent with one's goals. For example, in forced-choice reaction time tasks, this tendency results in a reliable slowing of reactions if the observed and self-initiated actions are incompatible (compatibility effect). While imitation is commonly explained as a social phenomenon, previous results on the compatibility effect's dependence on social cues are inconsistent. However, in many previous studies, the associated social cues were easy to ignore by the participants. To make the social modifier more salient, the current study manipulated emotionally relevant aspects of the model hand itself in an imitation inhibition task by using models displaying skin disease symptoms which we expected to elicit (1) perceptions of dissimilarity and (2) disgust in participants. As predicted, participants' (n = 63) reaction times were influenced more by the incompatible actions of the symptom-free than the symptomatic model hand. However, both levels of self-reported disgust toward and self-other overlap with symptomatic hands were low and did not account for the observed effect on automatic imitation. Our findings show that automatic imitation depends on social factors if these are an integral part of the model and processed quickly, presumably due to their affective salience or the salience of the self-other distinction. Whether this effect is driven by emotional reactions to the model remains an open question.

The effect of contamination disgust on Covid-19-related anxiety

IntroductionIt is proven that high levels of disgust contribute to implementing protective behaviors. Investigators also discovered that the emotion of disgust plays a central role in determining anxiety related to the contraction of COVID-19. Few data are available about the role of the contamination disgust, a specific disgust domain, in this relationship.ObjectivesThe effect of contamination disgust on COVID-19-related anxiety was investigated.Methods 295 healthy subjects were enrolled through an online survey. They completed Disgust Scale-Revised (DS-R) and were asked to estimate their levels of Covid-19-related anxiety in 12 proposed situations. A total score was then calculated. An ANOVA model having Covid-19-related anxiety total score as dependent variable, and DS-R contamination disgust, age, and sex as predictors was estimated.ResultsThe overall model was significant (F(3,291)=6.402, p<0.001) and explained 6.2% of total Covid-19 anxiety variance (R2=0.062). The effect of DS-R contamination disgust on Covid-19-related anxiety was positive, significant (B=0.974, t(291)=3.227, p=0.001) and explained 3.5% of Covid-19-related anxiety variance (partial η2=0.035). A significant effect of sex was detected (F(1,291)=4.919, p=0.027), with females having higher Covid-19-related anxiety than males, while no effect was detected for age (B=-0.024, t(291)=-0.884, p=0.377).ConclusionsThe presented data provide preliminary evidence for an effect of contamination disgust on Covid-19-related anxiety.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

The behavioral immune system in action: Psychological correlates of pathogen disgust sensitivity in healthcare professionals working in a COVID-19 hospital

The behavioral immune system includes a set of proactive mechanisms that inhibit contact with pathogens in the first place. These mechanisms offer a sort of psychological and behavioral prophylaxis against infection. The aim of this study was to assess the functionality of the behavioral immune system under conditions of strong ecological validity. Our hypothesis was that the emotional and more primitive component of the behavioral immune system (i.e. pathogen disgust sensitivity) acts as a powerful predictor of fear of infection. The sample was made up of 101 healthcare professionals working in a COVID-19 hospital when vaccination was not yet available. We conducted a hierarchical regression analysis to assess the role of germ-related disgust in modulating levels of fear. After controlling for the significant effects of depressive symptoms and exposure to people with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19, we found that fear of infection was more intense in those healthcare workers who reported higher levels of germ-related disgust. Fear of infection was not related to perceived infectability, an individual variable informed by more rational cognitive appraisals. These findings show that, even in healthcare workers who can take advantage of their professional knowledge and acquired skills for rational appraisals, the most primitive component of the behavioral immune system still plays a major role in eliciting fear of COVID-19. It is likely that the psychological reactions elicited by the behavioral immune system promote preventive health behaviors in modern environments as well.

Public Perception of Men Who Have Committed Intrafamilial and Extrafamilial Sexual Offences Against Children.

This study examined whether the attitudinal responses toward child sexual abuse (CSA) differ due to the person's relationship with the victim (intrafamilial vs. extrafamilial) and/or proximity to the victim (close vs. distant). An online sample of 292 participants completed a measure assessing pre-existing attitudes toward people who commit sexual offenses, before being randomly presented with a vignette describing a CSA case committed by a biological father, biological uncle, babysitter, stranger, or stepfather. Participants then rated the perpetrator's level of dangerousness and pedophilic interest, their own feelings of disgust, and their punitive judgments. Controlling for pre-existing attitudes, the extrafamilial cases (stranger and babysitter) were perceived to be more dangerous (large effects; ds > .50) and more pedophilic than the stepfather (large effects; ds > .60). Also, participants reported greater levels of disgust toward the stranger than both the babysitter and uncle (medium effects; ds > .30). The findings demonstrate the need to account for the established heterogeneity of men who commit CSA when studying the public's attitudinal responses. Methodological limitations and suggestions for future research are also discussed.

Disgustingly perfect: An examination of disgust, perfectionism, and gender.

High levels of disgust and perfectionism co-exist in some clinical disorders raising questions about the relationship between the two. This research evaluated socially-related and physically-related disgust in people with varying levels of perfectionism. In Study 1, 120 college students participated in a state emotion-eliciting scenario task, then completed both the Almost Perfect Scale-Revised and the Three Dimensions of Disgust Survey (TDDS). In Study 2, 380 Qualtrics users completed the scenarios, along with the TDDS and Multidimensional Perfectionist Scale. Both studies showed that state emotions differed from each other in ways that were unrelated to perfectionism. Gender differences were seen in the perfectionist groups, state disgust responses, and trait sexual disgust. However, Study 2 also showed relationships between trait perfectionism and disgust. The differing state emotional responses show that contextual interpersonal factors are highly important in disgust behaviors. Additionally, the findings suggest that gender could be important in the relationship between disgust and perfectionism.