title: Disgust as a motivator of avoidance of spiders.
abstract: Individuals with small animal phobias show elevated general disgust sensitivity, and spider phobics often endorse both fear and disgust in response to a spider. Some researchers have argued that the link between disgust and fear of small animals is spurious. On the other hand, disgust may play a functional role, as might any negative emotion that is strongly stimulus-bound, in which escape or avoidance is negatively reinforced. It is therefore important to clarify whether disgust has a functional or epiphenomenal role in avoidance of feared stimuli. The present study examined the degree to which disgust motivates avoidance of spider-related stimuli using a series of behavioral avoidance tests comparing a harmless tarantula, a pen that had come in contact with the spider, and a clean pen. Peak disgust was a stronger predictor than anxiety of avoidance of both the spider and the "contaminated" pen.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. swoody@psych.ubc.ca
authors.forename: Sheila R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Woody
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: McLean
authors.forename: Tammy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Klassen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D004644:Emotions; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D013112:Spiders