Trait-disgust vs. fear of contamination and the judgmental bias of contamination concerns

Mechanisms by which trait-disgust, i.e. relatively stable individual differences in disgust proneness, affects anxious psychopathology are not well understood. A possible pathway might be the impact of trait-disgust on cognitive processes, which are involved in the anxiety disorders. The present study extends findings on interpretational and attentional bias by investigating the judgmental bias. Based on theories on disgust, it was assumed that trait-disgust is related to predictions of catching a disease. The present study examined the likelihood of becoming ill, the probability of avoidance behaviour, and the urge to wash in relation to disgust-sensitivity, disgust propensity, fear of contamination, and general anxiety using real-life scenarios. Results suggest that disgust-sensitivity makes a unique contribution to a judgmental bias additionally to fear of contamination and even when controlling general anxiety. Future research concerning the causal direction of this bias is warranted. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.