Disgust, creatureliness and the accessibility of death‐related thoughts

Abstract

From an existential terror management theory perspective, disgusting stimuli are threatening to human beings because they make salient people's vulnerability to death. Two studies were designed to assess this proposition by measuring implicit death-related ideation after individuals were presented with stimuli that either were or were not disgusting, under conditions in which the similarities of humans to other animals or the uniquely human aspects of people were made salient. In Study 1, in which rather extreme disgust-eliciting pictures were used, disgusting stimuli led to higher death-thought accessibility than neutral pictures regardless of whether or not participants had previously been primed with similarities between humans and other animals. In Study 2, in which milder verbal disgust-eliciting stimuli were used, disgusting stimuli led to heightened death-thought accessibility only when humananimal similarities were first primed. Implications for the regulation and humanization of the human body and its functions are discussed.

A Terror Management Perspective on Young Adults’ Ageism and Attitudes Toward Dementia

“…An encounter with a sick or physically disabled person may serve as a troubling reminder that human life is fragile (Cox, Goldenberg, Pyszczynski, & Weise, 2007;Goldenberg, Heflick, & Cooper, 2008). Thus, studies have shown that MS induces disengagement and mixed emotions toward individuals with disabilities (Ben-Naim, Aviv, & Hirschberger, 2008;Hirschberger, Florian, & Mikulincer, 2005).…”

Death Be Not Profane: Mortality Salience and Euphemism Use

“…Distinguishing ourselves from animals has been suggested by many as a component of the way in which cultural worldviews protect humans from existential anxiety (Beatson & Halloran, 2007;Cox, Goldenberg, Pyszczynski, & Weise, 2007;Goldenberg, Arndt, Hart, & Routledge, 2008;Goldenberg, Cox, Pyszczynski, Greenberg, & Solomon, 2002;Goldenberg, Goplen, Cox, & Arndt, 2006;Goldenberg, Pyszczynski, Greenberg, & Solomon, 2000;Goldenberg et al, 2001;Goldenberg et al, 1999;Koole & Van den Berg, 2005). In the noted studies, participants for whom mortality was made salient exhibited increased denials of human creatureliness relative to control participants, suggesting that thoughts of death caused them to desire distance from their animal natures in an attempt to thwart awareness of physical finitude.…”

The Effects of Mortality Salience on Disgust Sensitivity Among University Students, Older Adults, and Mortuary Students

“…For example, reminders of death led participants to prefer the author of an essay arguing for human uniqueness over the author of an essay arguing that humans are similar to other animals [6]. In addition, priming the similarity between humans and other animals prior to the presentation of disgusting stimuli increased the accessibility of death related thoughts [13]. Further, mortality salience in conjunction with priming human-animal similarity led participants with low levels of trait self-esteem to evaluate animals in general more negatively [33].…”

“…Additional support for the Terror Management perspective on disgust comes from the finding that graphic visual images that powerfully elicited disgust increased the accessibility of death related thoughts and that milder disgust eliciting stimuli (reading items from the Disgust Scale) also increased the accessibility of death related thoughts but only when coupled with essays priming human similarity to other animals [13].…”