Mental contamination: The effects of imagined physical dirt and immoral behaviour

Disgust as a unique affective predictor of mental contamination following sexual trauma

“…As the vast majority of individuals with a history of sexual trauma report experiencing at least transient mental contamination at some point following their assault (Fairbrother & Rachman, 2004), much of the research on mental contamination has been conducted among these samples. Related laboratory paradigms have been developed to serve as analogues for investigation of relevant processes involved in traumatic sexual victimization (Elliott & Radomsky, 2009; Herba & Rachman, 2007; Radomsky & Elliott, 2009, 2012). …”

“…For example, studies involving imagery of a past instance of sexual victimization as well as analogue studies involving imagery of a nonconsensual kiss at a party (i.e., dirty kiss paradigm ) suggest cognitive appraisals such as beliefs about the degree of violation associated with an event, perceived responsibility for the event, and perceptions of the perpetrator (e.g., morality/immorality of character, physical cleanliness) may be involved in the development of mental contamination concerns (Elliott & Radomsky, 2009; Ishikawa et al, in press; Radomsky & Elliott, 2009, 2012). Preliminary evidence further suggests that posttraumatic cognitions, including those related to self-blame, negative beliefs about the self, and negative beliefs about the world, mediate the association between mental contamination and posttraumatic stress symptoms following traumatic sexual victimization (Olatunji et al, 2008).…”

The effects of obsessive-compulsive symptoms and disorder-relevant stimuli on the dynamics of selective attention

“…The 60 contamination-relevant pictures (e.g., a dirty toilet) were selected from the IAPS, the by a physically dirty man. For the neutral induction the audio script of the consensual physically clean condition of Elliott and Radomsky (2012) was adjusted by substituting the consensual kiss on the mouth by a kiss on the cheek as a means of saying goodbye. A kiss on the cheek is a common informal way of saying goodbye to friends in Belgium.…”

The relationship between obsessive compulsive disorder and mental contamination (MC): psychometric properties of Vancouver obsessive compulsive inventory-MC scale and thought-action fusion-contamination scale

“…Fairbrother et al (8) triggered mental contamination in female university students by making them listen to a voice record about a nonconsensual kissing case. Consequently, different variables such as attractiveness (9), immoral behavior (10), physical dirtiness (11), and betrayal were added on these scenarios, and the factors affecting mental contamination were investigated. Radomsky and Elliott (13) performed a study in which they let participants listen conditions by manipulating responsibility (the condition that participant did not give consent to be kissed), personal violation (the condition that the participants were kissed by force) and morality (the condition that the kisser was an immoral individual) components into different scenarios, so as to determine their effects on mental contamination.…”

“…Consistent with expectations, kissing scenarios triggered mental contamination in participants and caused negative feelings. Elliott and Radomsky (11) investigated associations of mental contamination feelings when non-consensual kissing condition was performed by a physically dirty person. According to obtained results, it was shown that non-consensual kissing by a physically dirty person caused higher mental contamination than the condition that the kissing person was clean, and also the condition of consensual kissing by a dirty/clean person.…”