title: Disease-avoidance model: factor analysis of common animal fears.
abstract: This paper reports the results of two studies investigating a disease-avoidance model of common animal fears. In Study 1, a factor analysis of a variety of self-rated animal fears revealed that these fears can be grouped into two theoretically meaningful categories which correspond to predatory animals and fear-relevant animals. Study 2 found a significant correlation between disgust sensitivity and fear to animals in the fear-relevant category, but not between disgust sensitivity and fear to animals in the predatory category. In addition, fear of animals in the fear-relevant category was significantly associated with scores on the obsessive washing sub-scale of the Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory, but was not associated with obsessive behaviour in general.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Division, The City University, London, U.K.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ware
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Burgess
authors.forename: G C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Davey
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000828:Animal Population Groups; D000818:Animals; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires