Disgust sensitivity is associated with heightened risk perception

Karg, Simon Tobias; Wiener-Blotner, Aaron; Schnall, Simone

doi:10.1080/13669877.2018.1474244

Cited by 18 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…Specifically, the findings show that, similar to group members’ underestimation of the risk posed by unhealthy group norms (e.g., Campbell & Stewart, ), experiencing a shared social identity in mass gatherings lowers health risk perceptions. Second, the findings elucidate how lowered perceived disgust underpins this negative relationship in the context of mass gatherings; this extends previous research that has shown that sharing a social identity lowers disgust responses (Reicher et al , ) and research that has linked disgust sensitivity to heightened health risk perceptions (Karg et al , ). The findings pose concerns for the management of mass gatherings; lowered disgust amongst crowd members could facilitate disease transmission by encouraging resource sharing (Pellerin & Edmond, ; Reicher et al , ) or other practices likely to be affected by an attenuated disgust response.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

“…Disgust – a feeling of revulsion elicited by potential noxious stimuli – has been proposed to be an evolved defence mechanism to avoid others’ pathogens, especially strangers’ pathogens to which the immune system is likely ill‐prepared to fend off (Curtis, de Barra, & Aunger, ; Faulkner, Schaller, Park, & Duncan, ). Naturally, disgust sensitivity is associated with heightened health risk perceptions (Karg, Wiener‐Blotner, & Simone, ). Perceived and experienced disgust therefore affects how people interact with one another – people are indeed less disgusted by those with whom they share a social identity (e.g., Reicher, Templeton, Neville, Ferrari, & Drury, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Shared social identification in mass gatherings lowers health risk perceptions via lowered disgust

Khazaie

Khan

2019

British J Social Psychol

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Previous research concerning mass gathering-associated health risks has focused on physical factors while largely neglecting the role of psychological factors. The present research examined the effect of experiencing shared social identification on perceptions of susceptibility to health risks in mass gatherings. Participants in Study 1 were asked to either recall a crowd in which they shared a social identity with other crowd members or a crowd in which they did not. Participants subsequently completed measures assessing shared social identity, disgust, and health risk perceptions. Study 2 involved administering the same measures as part of a survey to participants who had recently attended a music festival. The results from both studies indicated that sharing a social identity lowered health risk perceptions; this effect was indirect and mediated via disgust. This highlights the importance of considering social identity processes in the design of health communication aimed at reducing mass gathering-associated health risks. Large crowd events, or mass gatherings, such as music festivals, pilgrimages, and sports events, pose serious health risks (The World Health Organization (WHO), 2015). Examples of non-communicable health risks include crush injuries, environmental stressors, and trauma incidences related to substance misuse (Steffen et al., 2012). However, the most serious health risk is the transmission of communicable diseases. Being in close physical proximity to masses of people, under often rudimentary living conditions, increases the risk of infection, which may spread beyond the bounds of the mass gathering (

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shared social identification in mass gatherings lowers health risk perceptions via lowered disgust

Khazaie

Khan

2019

British J Social Psychol

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“…From an evolutionary perspective, disgust may function primarily with the objective of rejecting offensive food [ 32 , 33 , 34 ] or, more generically, to avoid contact with substances that transmit pathogens [ 35 ]. The psychological and economic literature focused on the relationship between physical disgust and risk sensitivity: for example, it has been found a positive association between disgust and risk-aversion [ 36 ], similarly, another study demonstrated that disgust sensitivity is correlated with heightened risk perception [ 37 ]. More recently, a study found that disgust only dampens participants’ propensity to take the gain, but not the loss [ 38 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“I Feel Therefore I Decide”: Effect of Negative Emotions on Temporal Discounting and Probability Discounting

2021

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Temporal and probability discounting are considered two fundamental constructs in economic science, as they are associated with phenomena with major societal impact and a variety of sub-optimal behaviors and clinical conditions. Although it is well known that positive and negative affective states bear important cognitive/behavioral consequences, the effect of emotional experiences on decision-making remains unclear due to the existence of many conflicting results. Inspired by the need to understand if and to what extent the current COVID-19 pandemic has determined changes in our decision-making processes by means of the unusual, prolonged experience of negative feelings, in this study we investigate the effect of anger, fear, sadness, physical and moral disgust on intertemporal and risky choices. Results show that all emotions significantly increase subjects’ preferences for immediate rewards over delayed ones, and for risky rewards over certain ones, in comparison to a “neutral emotion” condition, although the magnitude of the effect differs across emotions. In particular, we observed a more pronounced effect in the case of sadness and moral disgust. These findings contribute to the literature on emotions and decision-making by offering an alternative explanation to the traditional motivational appraisal theories. Specifically, we propose that the increased preference for immediate gratification and risky outcomes serves as a mechanism of self-reward aimed at down-regulating negative feelings and restore the individual’s “emotional balance”.

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“…They argue that associations between pathogen disgust sensitivity (PDS) and a multitude of non-disgust related threats suggest this measure is in fact tapping a more generalized sensitivity to risk. Another common measure of disgust sensitivity, the Disgust Scale -Revised (DS-R) [van Overveld et al, 2011], is also associated with heightened risk perceptions across a broad range of risk domains (e.g., social, financial, health) [Karg, Wiener-Blotner and Schnall, 2019]. This work raises the concern that common measures of disgust sensitivity are not reliably measuring disgust, but rather a more generalized perception of risk.…”

Section: Disgust or Risk?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Uniquely disgusting? Physiological disgust and attitudes toward GM food and other food and health technologies

Chinn¹,

Hasell²

2021

JCOM

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Despite scientific consensus that genetically modified (GM) food is safe to eat, the American public remains skeptical. This study (N=73) investigates the proposed role of disgust in driving opposition to GM food, which is debated in extant literature. Using physiological measures of disgust, alongside self-report measures, this study suggests that disgust plays a role in driving skepticism toward GM food, but not other food and health technologies. We further discuss the possible influence of risk sensitivity and perceptions of unnaturalness on attitudes toward novel science.

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Disgust sensitivity is associated with heightened risk perception

Cited by 18 publications

References 69 publications

Shared social identification in mass gatherings lowers health risk perceptions via lowered disgust

Shared social identification in mass gatherings lowers health risk perceptions via lowered disgust

“I Feel Therefore I Decide”: Effect of Negative Emotions on Temporal Discounting and Probability Discounting

Uniquely disgusting? Physiological disgust and attitudes toward GM food and other food and health technologies

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