The effect of disgust on anxiety ratings to fear-relevant, disgust-relevant and fear-irrelevant stimuli.
This study investigated the effect of an experimental disgust induction and experience of a homophone spelling task on subsequent anxiety to fear-relevant, disgust-relevant and fear-irrelevant stimuli in a non-clinical population. The design of the study allowed an assessment of (1) whether disgust facilitates anxiety only if the stimulus being evaluated is disgust-relevant and (2) whether experiencing the threat-interpretation bias induced by disgust facilitates anxiety generally. The results indicated that a disgust induction facilitated levels of self-reported anxiety to a range of scenarios regardless of whether they were disgust-relevant, fear-relevant or fear-irrelevant, and regardless of whether participants had experienced the disgust-induced threat-interpretation bias. This study provides evidence for a general effect of disgust on self-reported anxiety to stimuli regardless of the disgust-relevance or fear-relevance of those stimuli. The results lend support to the view that disgust has a causal effect on anxiety, and implicates disgust as a risk factor for anxious psychopathology.
Davey
Graham C L
GC
Department of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9QH, UK. grahamda@cogs.susx.ac.uk
Macdonald
Benie A
BA
Brierley
Lucy
L
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D010781:Photography; D011594:Psychometrics; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014796:Visual Perception