Disgust and disgust sensitivity in blood-injection-injury and spider phobia.

Blood-injection-injury (BII) phobics and spider phobics show markedly different cognitive, psychophysiological, and motoric reactions to activating stimuli. These observations have led theorists to question whether the emotion of fear mediates both phobias. The present study examined the role of disgust and disgust sensitivity in these subtypes of specific phobia. BII phobics, spider phobics, and nonphobics completed questionnaires and rated pictures of specific objects on fear and disgust scales. Questionnaire data indicated that phobic participants were higher than nonphobics on fear, and also on disgust sensitivity. The reaction of BII phobics to pictures of medical stimuli was one of disgust, rather than fear. The reaction of spider phobics to pictures of spiders was a combination of fear and disgust, though fear appeared to predominate. Results are discussed in view of current theories of emotional factors in specific phobia.

[1]  A. Arntz,et al.  The role of evaluative learning and disgust sensitivity in the etiology and treatment of spider phobia , 1993 .

[2]  G. Davey,et al.  Characteristics of individuals with fear of spiders , 1991 .

[3]  Paul Rozin,et al.  Operation of the laws of sympathetic magic in disgust and other domains. , 1986 .

[4]  Clark McCauley,et al.  Individual differences in sensitivity to disgust: A scale sampling seven domains of disgust elicitors , 1994 .

[5]  G. Curtis,et al.  On the diphasic nature of vasovagal fainting associated with blood-injury-illness phobia , 1985, The Pavlovian journal of biological science.

[6]  A. Page.  Blood-injury Phobia , 1994 .

[7]  G. Davey,et al.  A test of a disease-avoidance model of animal phobias. , 1991, Behaviour research and therapy.

[8]  Lars-Göran Öst,et al.  Exposure in vivo vs applied relaxation in the treatment of blood phobia. , 1984, Behaviour research and therapy.

[9]  R. Levenson.  Autonomic Nervous System Differences among Emotions , 1992 .

[10]  M. Gelder,et al.  Forearm Blood Flow and Phobic Anxiety , 1968, British Journal of Psychiatry.

[11]  Lars-Göran Öst,et al.  One versus five sessions of exposure in the treatment of injection phobia , 1992 .

[12]  G. Davey,et al.  Disgust sensitivity and fear of animals: Effect of exposure to violent or revulsive material , 1992 .

[13]  P. Lang,et al.  Psychometric description of some specific-fear questionnaires. , 1974 .

[14]  Lars-Göran Öst,et al.  Physiological responses in blood phobics. , 1984, Behaviour research and therapy.

[15]  L. F. Barrett,et al.  Handbook of Emotions , 1993 .

[16]  G. Prigatano,et al.  Autonomic nervous system changes associated with a spider phobic reaction. , 1974, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[17]  Arne Öhman,et al.  Fear and anxiety as emotional phenomena: Clinical phenomenology, evolutionary perspectives, and information-processing mechanisms. , 1993 .

[18]  A. Fallon,et al.  A perspective on disgust. , 1987, Psychological review.

[19]  J. Connolly,et al.  Selective association of fainting with blood-injury-illness fear * , 1976 .