Trait Disgust Research Articles

State and Trait Disgust Uniquely Predict Avoidance in Contamination Fear: Specificity of Disease-Specific and Nonspecific Individual Differences

Although behavioral avoidance is observed among those with heightened contamination concerns, the extent to which such avoidance is best predicted by state and/or trait characteristics is unclear. Furthermore, while disgust proneness is a disease-specific trait that has been shown to predict avoidance among those with symptoms of contamination-based obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), it is unclear if other disease-specific traits may also serve a similar function. In the present study, contamination-fearful participants (N = 89) first completed self-report measures of disease-specific (disgust proneness, health anxiety, perceived vulnerability to disease) and disease-nonspecific (intolerance of uncertainty, trait anxiety) traits. They then completed a 16-step behavioral approach task (BAT) with increasing likelihood of contagion in a public restroom and provided ratings of state disgust and state anxiety at each step. Bayesian hierarchical logistic regression showed that state disgust, but not state anxiety, at a given step was associated with avoidance on the next step. Furthermore, disgust proneness was the only trait associated with avoidance on the BAT. A significant interaction between disgust proneness and BAT step completed in the public restroom was also found. Examination of this interaction suggests that intermediary, but not initial and latter, steps of the BAT differentiate those high and low in disgust proneness. These findings suggest that state and trait disgust uniquely drive behavioral avoidance among those with contamination concerns commonly observed in OCD.

Exploring Correlations of Food-Specific Disgust with Eating Disorder Psychopathology and Food Interaction: A Preliminary Study Using Virtual Reality.

The emotion of disgust is thought to play a critical role in maintaining restrictive eating among individuals with anorexia nervosa. This exploratory cross-sectional study examined correlations between food-specific trait and state disgust, eating disorder psychopathology, illness severity (body mass index: BMI), and interactions with virtual foods in people with anorexia nervosa. Food-specific trait disgust and eating disorder symptoms were measured before exposure to virtual foods in one of three virtual reality (VR) kitchens to which participants were randomly allocated. Food interactions (eye gaze and reaching towards virtual foods) were measured during the VR exposure. Food-specific state disgust ratings were collected after the VR exposure. In the entire sample, eating disorder symptoms correlated positively with food-specific trait disgust (rs (68) = 0.45, p < 0.001). We also found a significant association between food-specific state disgust and eating disorder symptoms in each virtual kitchen scenario: virtual kitchen only (rs (22) = 0.40, p = 0.05), virtual kitchen plus pet (rs (22) = 0.80, p < 0.001), and virtual kitchen plus avatar (rs (20) = 0.78, p < 0.001). No significant correlation was observed for the link between food-specific disgust measures and food-related touch. Correlations between food-specific trait disgust and food-related eye gaze differed across scenarios. The current experimental paradigm needs to be improved to draw firm conclusions. Both food-specific trait and state disgust are associated with eating disorder psychopathology, and therefore, effective strategies are warranted to attenuate food-specific disgust.

Linking self-disgust, negative affect, and PTSD in sexual assault: An ecological momentary assessment approach.

Although self-disgust has been implicated in sexual assault-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), empirical evidence of this association is limited. Participants with sexual assault-related PTSD (n = 19), sexual assault without PTSD (n = 20), and healthy controls (n = 21) completed "trait" measures of disgust proneness, self-disgust, and negative affect (NA; i.e., anxiety and depression). An ecological momentary assessment approach was also employed, where participants reported "state" levels of PTSD symptoms, self-disgust, and NA in the morning, afternoon, and evening for 1 week. Those with PTSD reported more trait disgust proneness, self-disgust, and NA than those who experienced sexual assault without PTSD and controls. However, those experiencing sexual assault without PTSD and controls did not differ from each other. Participants with a history of sexual assault also experienced higher self-disgust and NA during the week than controls. Those with higher PTSD symptoms during the week also experienced more self-disgust and NA. Similarly, changes in PTSD symptoms were associated with changes in self-disgust and NA during the week. Although a temporal association was found where NA predicted subsequent PTSD symptoms (and vice versa) during the week, a temporal link between self-disgust and PTSD symptoms (or vice versa) was not found. These findings suggest that the link between self-disgust and sexual assault-related PTSD is more correlational than causal. The implications of these findings for understanding how trait and state self-disgust fits within the broader emotional network of sexual assault-related PTSD are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Specificity Versus Generality: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Association Between Trait Disgust Sensitivity and Moral Judgment

Disgust seems to play an important role in moral judgment. However, it is unclear whether the role of disgust in moral judgment is limited to certain kinds of moral domains (versus many) and/or certain types of disgust (versus many). To clarify these questions, we conducted a multilevel meta-analysis ( k = 512; N = 72,443) on relations between trait disgust sensitivity and moral judgment (disgust-immorality association). Main analyses revealed a significant overall mean disgust-immorality association ( r = .23). Additionally, moderator analyses revealed significant specificity in disgust type and moral domain (grounded in Moral Foundations Theory): effects were stronger for (a) sexual disgust compared to pathogen disgust, (b) sanctity moral judgments compared to other domains of moral judgments, and (c) sexual-sanctity associations compared to other disgust type-moral domain pairings.

Association between obesity bias and trait disgust: Findings from the moral machine experiment with obese humans and animals

Association between obesity bias and trait disgust: Findings from the moral machine experiment with obese humans and animals

The role of disgust as an emotional barrier to colorectal cancer screening participation: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective Worldwide colorectal cancer (CRC) screening rates are suboptimal. This systematic review and meta-analysis examine the role of disgust in CRC screening avoidance. Design A systematic literature search was conducted. In all, 46 studies were included in the review. Among these, 16 studies were compared with a meta-analytical approach in order to 1) estimate the effect size of state disgust on screening intention and attendance; 2) examine whether methodological characteristics moderate the effect of state disgust on screening behaviour; 3) estimate the effect sizes of trait disgust and type of exam kit on state disgust. Results In the reviewed studies, state disgust was often associated with CRC screening and especially with CRC screening avoidance. The meta-analysis confirmed low-to-moderate negative effects of state disgust on screening intention and attendance. Population sampling strategy was the only significant moderator of the effect of state disgust on screening attendance, i.e. studies that used convenience (versus random/representative) samples found a significantly lower effect size. Trait disgust and type of exam kit exerted a large and a moderate-to-large positive effect, respectively, on state disgust. Conclusions Disgust can boost CRC screening avoidance. Further studies and interventions must be designed to help patients in overcoming this emotional barrier.

Gross values: Investigating the role of disgust in bioethics

What is the role of disgust in moral judgements? Previous research found that disgust increases the severity of judgments; but other more recent work has cast doubt on these findings. Here we investigate roles of induced and trait disgust on moral judgments of controversial biological and medical technologies – bioethics – an area rife with proto-typical disgust cues. Participants (N = 600) viewed disgusting, frightening, or neutral pictures, rated the moral acceptability of biotechnologies, and completed questionnaire measures of trait disgust. We found a small negative effect of induced disgust (but not fear) on the acceptability of ‘existing’ biotechnology, but not ‘future’, ‘agricultural’, or ‘termination’ biotechnologies. But this effect was too small to change pre-existing opinions and would not have survived a correction for multiple tests. Although trait disgust had mostly negative relationships with the moral acceptability of biotechnologies, it did not moderate the effect of observing disgusting photos on biotechnology judgments. The larger, more consistent effects for trait disgust suggest that either (a) measures of trait disgust and moral attitudes share a source of method variance or (b) incidental, visual manipulations are too weak to capture the true effect of disgust on moral judgments.

Pre-pandemic disgust proneness predicts increased coronavirus anxiety and safety behaviors: Evidence for a diathesis-stress model

Although health anxiety and corresponding safety behaviors can facilitate disease transmission avoidance, they can be maladaptive in excess, including during the coronavirus pandemic. Disgust proneness (i.e., tendency to experience and be sensitive to disgust) is one factor that may predict elevated coronavirus anxiety and safety behaviors during the pandemic, given the role of disgust in avoiding disease transmission. The present study examined the relations between pre-pandemic disgust proneness and coronavirus anxiety and safety behaviors in community adults who completed a 2016 study and were re-contacted on 4/1/2020 (N = 360). Interactions between pre-pandemic disgust proneness and current perceived stress were tested to examine a diathesis-stress model of the role of disgust proneness in anxiety response to the pandemic. Increased pre-pandemic disgust proneness predicted increased coronavirus anxiety and safety behaviors, controlling for number of COVID-19 cases by state. Consistent with a diathesis-stress model, current perceived stress moderated this effect, such that highest coronavirus anxiety and safety behaviors were reported by those with high disgust proneness and high stress. Trait disgust proneness may be a vulnerability factor for anxiety responses to the coronavirus pandemic, particularly among individuals experiencing high stress. Assessing disgust proneness and current stress may facilitate targeted anxiety intervention during the pandemic.

The "Ick" Factor: An Unrecognized Affective Predictor of Physical Symptoms During Chemotherapy.

Patients undergoing chemotherapy experience a range of aversive symptoms. These symptoms vary across individuals and at least some of this variation can be predicted by psychological factors, such as distress. However, while psychological distress predicts some of the symptoms, it is limited in important ways. To (a) assess the viability of disgust-a discrete emotion that specifically evolved for health-related reasons-as a predictor of chemotherapy-related symptoms (particularly, taste- and smell-related changes) and (b) compare the predictive utility of disgust sensitivity and propensity against the most commonly used affective predictor, that is, psychological distress. Patients with cancer (N = 63) about to initiate chemotherapy were recruited in a prospective observational study. Psychosocial predictor variables were assessed at baseline, and outcomes (i.e., physical symptoms, body mass index [BMI], and food-based sensory-processing changes) were assessed at both baseline and 6 week follow-up. Psychological distress did not predict any of the outcomes. Both disgust sensitivity (β = .53, p = .003) and propensity (β = -.56, p = .002) predicted greater food-based sensory-processing changes, while disgust sensitivity marginally predicted greater chemotherapy-related physical symptoms (β = .34, p = .060); neither of these two forms of disgust predicted BMI. The study provides first evidence showing (a) associations between trait disgust and food sensory-processing changes that arise during chemotherapy and (b) disgust as being a more useful predictor of food- and digestion-related symptoms than psychological distress. In doing so, it opens new doors for better care to be provided to patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Is it disgusting or am I just easily disgusted? The relation between situational disgust, dispositional disgust, and colonoscopy intentions.

While early detection is an effective way to reduce mortality from colorectal cancer, screening rates are low. An underlying factor in screening completion failure may be experiences of disgust when learning about screening and/or dispositional disgust. Participants recruited via Amazon MTurk (N=296) read information about colonoscopy and completed an online survey assessing both dispositional forms of disgust (i.e. trait disgust and disgust sensitivity) and situational forms, including state disgust and disgust associated with colonoscopy. Participants reported intentions to discuss colonoscopy with a provider and to prepare for and complete screening. Greater state disgust and the degree to which one associated disgust with colonoscopy predicted lower screening, preparation and provider discussion intentions. By contrast, neither trait disgust nor disgust sensitivity was associated with intentions. Both disgust sensitivity and trait disgust moderated the state disgust to intentions relation. This is one of few investigations of disgust examining the relation between specific types and colonoscopy intentions. Screening uptake may be improved by identifying specific components of disgust that have an effect on colonoscopy intentions. Future work focusing on the interplay between different disgust mechanisms as they relate to colonoscopy behaviour is important for intervention development.

Recycled and desalinated water: Consumers’ associations, and the influence of affect and disgust on willingness to use

Traditional water sources are increasingly coming under pressure from urbanization, population and industrial growth as well as climate variability and alternatives such as desalinated and recycled water will need to be considered in the future. However, available data indicate that consumers are apprehensive about these alternative water sources, with many reactions centered on disgust. It is not clear though, whether trait or state disgust is responsible for these disgust reactions. Secondly, the associations the public has with desalinated and recycled water are not well described, even though knowledge of these associations would provide the holistic understanding required for addressing perceptions. Using respondents from Australia and South Africa, therefore, this study investigated the associations people have with recycled and desalinated water, as well as the influence of affect, institutional trust, cultural/religious beliefs, water scarcity, and demographic variables, on willingness to use (WTU) these waters. The results show that whereas recycled water is associated with negative affect from notions of disgust, desalinated water is often thought of in terms of minerals, or as “simply water”. We also found that affect was the most significant predictor, and that state disgust as well as trait disgust influenced WTU. Together these data suggest that disgust-related rejection of is likely due to the disgust elicited by the waters rather than disgust-proneness of individuals. It is plausible, therefore, that efforts to induce positive affect through making salient positive associations e.g. NEWater in Singapore, may increase WTU.

Disgust and political attitudes

AbstractWe introduce the Politics and the Life Sciences Special Issue on Disgust and Political Attitudes discussing the importance of understanding state and trait disgust, the innovative and transparent process by which registered reports and preregistered studies were chosen and funded, and the manuscripts that make up this special issue. This essay concludes by discussing future research directions in disgust and political attitudes, as well as the benefits of a transparent review process that avoids the “file drawer problem” of unpublished null findings.

Why do intuitions differ? Explaining how individual and scenario features influence disgust and moral judgements on GMOs

Moral psychology holds that negative judgements on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are likely to be intuitive reactions driven by trait disgust without deliberation, which brings difficulty to genetic science communication. Based on two interrelated experiments examining the processes and conditions of individual and scenario features influencing disgust and moral judgement about GMOs, this study aims to identify the different routes through which disgust influences moral judgement about GMOs in the physical and social dimensions. We found that the process of elicited state disgust influencing moral judgement on GMOs is regulated by pathogen disgust sensitivity and moral disgust sensitivity. The difference in opposition to GMOs brought by preferences for precepts implied in moral theories is evidently subject to the joint effect of the disgust elicitation type and emotion reappraisal (ER). This study clarifies the relationship between disgust for GMOs and moral judgement. It also confirms the effectiveness of ER in promoting the transition of moral judgement on GMOs from intuitive reaction to deliberation, thus offering benefits for science communicators targeting audiences who differ in their preferences for precepts implied in moral theories and trait disgust.

Cognitive and personality correlates of trait disgust and their relationship to condemnation of nonpurity moral transgressions.

Past research has found that individuals who are more sensitive to physically disgusting stimuli also condemn moral transgressions more harshly. However, there is debate about whether this condemnation includes transgressions that do not involve impure behaviors. We present a meta-analysis of 6 studies (N = 1082) which suggests that trait disgust is associated with condemnation of nonpurity transgressions. This relationship was primarily explained by sensitivity toward the very core disgust stimuli that those transgressions lack. We next tested whether this relationship might be mediated by a third variable. We found that trait core disgust was associated with higher orderliness, lower deviance sensitivity, and preference for intuitive thinking; these variables also correlated with moral condemnation. Trait disgust was also associated with lower generalized social trust, but trust was not correlated with moral condemnation. Neither trait disgust nor moral condemnation were associated with ethnocentrism. Further, none of these variables mediated the relationship between trait disgust and condemnation. Taken together, our results support a role for trait disgust in moral judgments outside of the purity domain, but leave unexplained its association with condemnation of nonpurity transgressions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Does Predisposition Toward Disgust Affect Emotional Response to Political Leaders? Evidence from the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election

ObjectiveWe explore the effects of trait disgust sensitivity and induced disgust on emotional response to political leaders. We assert that disgust sensitivity, especially in response to pathogen‐based stimuli (e.g., insects, feces, and vomit), will affect an individual's interaction with his or her political environment, including political leaders.MethodsWe analyze the effect of individual predispositions in response to stimuli indicating the presence of pathogens on emotional response to President Barack Obama, as well as his Republican challenger during the 2012 election, Mitt Romney. Study 1 utilizes cross‐sectional data to determine how disgust sensitivity relates to how President Obama made respondents feel. Study 2 analyzes experimental data considering the effect of a disgusting odorant (butyric acid) on emotional response to Obama and Romney.ResultsFindings suggest disgust plays an important role in emotional response to political leaders both through trait sensitivity and when induced and it is particularly relevant to emotional responses to President Obama.ConclusionsDisgust, both as a trait sensitivity and as experimentally induced by an odorant, influences emotional response to the political environment, including high‐profile political leaders.

It’s not queasy being green: The role of disgust in willingness-to-pay for more sustainable product alternatives

Scholars differ in the extent to which they regard the “yuck factor” as an important predictor of sustainable consumption decisions. In the present decision experiment we tested whether people’s disgust traits predicted relative willingness-to-pay (WTP) for sustainable product alternatives, including atypically-shaped fruit and vegetables; insect-based food products; and medicines/drinks with reclaimed ingredients from sewage. In a community sample of 510 participants (255 women), using path analyses we examined the extent to which effects of disgust traits on WTP were mediated by cognitive appraisals of perceived taste, health risk, naturalness, visual appeal, and nutritional/medicinal value. Further, we assessed whether these effects were moderated by the tendency to regulate disgust using reappraisal and suppression techniques. Across all product categories, when controlling for important covariates such as pro-environmental attitudes, we found a significant negative effect of trait disgust propensity on WTP. In total, a 1 SD increase in participants’ disgust propensity scores predicted between 6% and 11% decrease in WTP. Appraisals of perceived naturalness, taste, health risk, and visual appeal significantly mediated these effects, differing in importance across the product categories, and explaining approximately half of the total effect of disgust propensity on WTP. Little-to-no support was found for moderation of effects by trait reappraisal or suppression. Individual differences in disgust are likely to be a barrier for certain viable sustainable alternatives to prototypical products. Marketing interventions targeting consumer appraisals, including in particular the perceived naturalness and taste, of these kinds of products may be effective.

An orderly personality partially explains the link between trait disgust and political conservatism

ABSTRACTIndividuals who are more easily disgusted tend to be more politically conservative. Individuals who have a preference for order also tend to be more politically conservative. In the present research, we hypothesised that these three variables are psychologically interrelated. Specifically, trait disgust encourages a generalised search for order, which, in turn, encourages the endorsement of political positions that aim to maintain societal order. Taking an individual differences approach, we operationalised the preference for order via Orderliness, one aspect of the Big Five trait Conscientiousness. Across six samples (total N = 1485), participants completed measures of trait disgust, aspect/trait personality, and political orientation. Analyses revealed that Orderliness was a consistent mediator of the association between trait disgust and conservatism. Analyses of subscales of disgust revealed preliminary evidence that Orderliness most consistently mediated the relationships between Contamination, Pathogen, and Sexual disgust and conservatism. These data suggest that disgust-sensitive people extend their preference for order in the physical environment (e.g. tidying up one's room) to the sociopolitical environment (e.g. strengthening traditional norms). The present findings illustrate one way in which emotional, cognitive, and personality processes work together to influence political orientation.

The Role of Disgust in Male Sexual Decision-Making.

Sexual arousal is known to increase risky behaviors, such as having unprotected sex. This may in part relate to the emotion of disgust, which normally serves a disease avoidant function, and is suppressed by sexual arousal. In this report we examine disgust's role in sexual decision-making. Male participants received two study packets that were to be completed at home across two different time-points. Participants were asked to complete one packet in a sexually aroused state and the other in a non-aroused state. Participants were asked to rate: (1) arousal, (2) disgust, (3) willingness for sex, and (4) disease risk toward a range of female targets, which varied in level of potential disease risk (sex-worker vs. non sex-worker) and attractiveness. A measure of trait disgust was also included along with other related scales. Sexual arousal was associated with reduced disgust and reduced judgments of disease risk for all targets—these latter two variables being correlated—and with enhanced willingness to have sex with all of the depicted persons. Willingness to have sex when aroused (in contrast to non-aroused) was predicted by disease risk judgments and trait disgust, suggesting both direct (state) and indirect (trait) effects of disgust on sexual decision-making.

Measurement is the core disgust problem: Response to Inbar and Scott (2018)

AbstractScott, Inbar and Rozin (2016) presented evidence that trait disgust predicts opposition to genetically modified food (GMF). Royzman, Cusimano, and Leeman (2017) argued that these authors did not appropriately measure trait disgust (disgust quaoral inhibitionorOI) and that, once appropriately measured, the hypothesized association between disgust and GMF attitudes was not present. In their commentary, Inbar and Scott (2018) challenge our conclusions in several ways. In this response, we defend our conclusions by showing (a) that OI is psychometrically distinct from other affective categories, (b) that OI is widely held to be the criterial feature of disgust and (c) that we were well-justified to pair OI with the pathogen-linked vignettes that we used. Furthermore, we extend our critique to the new findings presented by Inbar and Scott (2018); we show that worry and suspicion (not disgust) are the dominant affective states one is likely to experience while thinking about GMF and that the true prevalence of disgust is about zero. We conclude by underscoring that the present argument and findings are a part of a larger body of evidence challenging any causal effect of disgust on morality.

Supplemental Material for Cognitive and Personality Correlates of Trait Disgust and Their Relationship to Condemnation of Nonpurity Moral Transgressions

Supplemental Material for Cognitive and Personality Correlates of Trait Disgust and Their Relationship to Condemnation of Nonpurity Moral Transgressions