Measurement and Theory in Disgust Sensitivity

Jm, Tybur; Karinen, Annika K.

doi:10.31234/osf.io/64fvp

Cited by 3 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“… 1 Note that, for the purpose of this paper, we use the term ‘disgust sensitivity’ to refer to pathogen disgust. Other types of disgust sensitivity—specifically, sexual and moral disgust—likely emerge for different reasons, which would require a separate paper to address (though see [ 17 ] and [ 18 ] for some discussion of these issues). …”

Section: Endnotesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…of the levator labii, a muscle activated when people experience disgust) to test whether people experience more disgust in some contexts than in others, such as when calorically deprived versus sated [ 16 ]. But the lion's share of disgust research has examined traits known as disgust sensitivity 1 (or disgust propensity; see [ 17 ] for a discussion of terminology) and contamination sensitivity [ 19 ]. For example, studies have measured disgust sensitivity to test hypotheses that pathogen-avoidance adaptations influence colour discrimination [ 20 ], person perception [ 21 ] and orientations towards gregariousness versus introversion [ 22 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Why do people vary in disgust?

Tybur¹,

Çınar²,

Karinen³

et al. 2018

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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People vary in the degree to which they experience disgust toward—and, consequently, avoid—cues to pathogens. Prodigious work has measured this variation and observed that it relates to, among other things, personality, psychopathological tendencies, and moral and political sentiments. Less work has sought to generate hypotheses aimed at explaining why this variation exists in the first place, and even less work has evaluated how well data support these hypotheses. In this paper, we present and review the evidence supporting three such proposals. First, researchers have suggested that variability reflects a general tendency to experience anxiety or emotional distress. Second, researchers have suggested that variability arises from parental modelling, with offspring calibrating their pathogen avoidance based on their parents' reactions to pathogen cues. Third, researchers have suggested that individuals calibrate their disgust sensitivity to the parasite stress of the ecology in which they develop. We conclude that none of these hypotheses is supported by existing data, and we propose directions for future research aimed at better understanding this variation.This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue ‘Evolution of pathogen and parasite avoidance behaviours’.

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Section: Endnotesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why do people vary in disgust?

Tybur¹,

Çınar²,

Karinen³

et al. 2018

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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“…Most researchers use "disgust sensitivity" and "disgust proneness" interchangeably to refer to individual differences in how frequently and intensely disgust is experienced. Some, however, have argued that this ought to be called "disgust propensity" and that "disgust sensitivity" should be used to refer to how upsetting people find the experience of being disgusted (but see Tybur & Karinen, 2018;van Overveld et al, 2006). Without taking a side in this debate, we here use "disgust sensitivity" in the more common sense, to refer to individual differences in the frequency and intensity of disgust in response to disgust elicitors.…”

Section: Measuring Individual Differences In Disgustmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For those interested in learning more about popular measures of disgust, there is a recent indepth review (Tybur & Karinen, 2018).…”

Section: Measuring Individual Differences In Disgustmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Particularly for the moral disgust subscale, responses might also reflect more generic moral disapproval or negative affect, given the multiple meanings of "disgust" in English (Kollareth & Russell, 2017). Likewise, the TDDS sexual disgust subscale may tap sexual restrictiveness in addition to (or instead of) a genuine affective reaction; it correlates highly with other measures of sociosexuality (i.e., willingness to engage in commitment-free sex) and has often been used interchangeably with them (Tybur & Karinen, 2018). Therefore, when using the TDDS researchers generally use only the pathogen subscale to measure "disgust sensitivity."…”

Section: Self-report Measures Of Disgust Sensitivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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How disgust affects social judgments

Inbar

Pizarro

2022

Advances in Experimental Social Psychology

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The emotion of disgust has been claimed to affect a diverse array of social judgments, including moral condemnation, inter-group prejudice, political ideology, and much more. We attempt to make sense of this large and varied literature by reviewing the theory and research on how and why disgust influences these judgments. We first describe two very different perspectives adopted by researchers on why disgust should affect social judgment. The first is the pathogenavoidance account, which sees the relationship between disgust and judgment as resulting from disgust's evolved function as a pathogen-avoidance mechanism. The second is the extended disgust account, which posits that disgust functions much more broadly to address a range of other threats and challenges. We then review the empirical evidence to assess how well it supports each of these perspectives, arguing that there is more support for the pathogenavoidance account than the extended account. We conclude with some testable empirical predictions that can better distinguish between these two perspectives.

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Re-evaluating the relationship between pathogen avoidance and preferences for facial symmetry and sexual dimorphism: A registered report

Tybur¹,

Fan²,

Jones³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Over the past decade, a small literature has tested how trait-level pathogen avoidance motives (e.g., disgust sensitivity) and exposure to pathogen cues relate to preferences for facial symmetry and sexual dimorphism. Results have largely been interpreted as suggesting that the behavioral immune system influences preferences for these features in potential mates. However, findings are limited by small sample sizes among studies reporting supportive evidence, the use of small stimulus sets to assess preferences for symmetry and dimorphism, and design features that render implications for theory ambiguous (namely, largely only investigating women’s preferences for male faces). The current registered report used the standard two-alternative forced-choice approach to evaluate both men’s and women’s preferences for both facial symmetry and dimorphism in both same- and opposite-sex targets in a sample of 954 UK Caucasian participants and a pool of 100 young adult Caucasian stimuli. Participants were randomly assigned to either a pathogen prime or a control prime, and they completed instruments assessing individual differences in pathogen avoidance (disgust sensitivity and contamination sensitivity). Results revealed overall preferences for both facial symmetry and dimorphism. However, they did not reveal a relation between these preferences and disgust sensitivity or contamination sensitivity, nor did they reveal differences in these preferences across control and pathogen prime conditions. Null results of pathogen-avoidance variables were consistent across participant sex, target sex, and interactions between participant sex and target sex. Overall, findings cast doubt on the hypothesis that pathogen-avoidance motives influence preferences for facial symmetry or dimorphism.

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Measurement and Theory in Disgust Sensitivity

Abstract: This chapter covers the 20+ year history of disgust sensitivity research by summarizing and contrasting different disgust sensitivity instruments and discussing how these instruments are used and interpreted.

Cited by 3 publications

References 83 publications

Why do people vary in disgust?

Why do people vary in disgust?

How disgust affects social judgments

Re-evaluating the relationship between pathogen avoidance and preferences for facial symmetry and sexual dimorphism: A registered report

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