Volume 26, Issue 1 (Avicenna Journal of Clinical Medicine-Spring 2019)                   Avicenna J Clin Med 2019, 26(1): 34-43 | Back to browse issues page

XML Persian Abstract Print

Download citation:
BibTeX | RIS | EndNote | Medlars | ProCite | Reference Manager | RefWorks
Send citation to:
Moradi Motlagh M, Nainian M R, Fata L, Gholami Fesharaki M, Ghaedi G. Investigation of the Moderating Role of Perceived Vulnerability to Infectious Diseases Regarding the Relationship between Disgust and Fear of Contamination. Avicenna J Clin Med 2019; 26 (1) :34-43
URL: http://sjh.umsha.ac.ir/article-1-1865-en.html
Investigation of the Moderating Role of Perceived Vulnerability to Infectious Diseases Regarding the Relationship between Disgust and Fear of Contamination
Mona Moradi Motlagh , Mohammad Reza Nainian 1, Ladan Fata , Mohammad Gholami Fesharaki , Gholamhossein Ghaedi
1- , mrnainian@yahoo.com
Abstract:   (4148 Views)
Background and Objective: Several studies revealed that disgust as an emotional response underlies the contamination fears in Contamination Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Other studies supported the role of cognitions related to contagion and disease in contamination OCD. The present study aimed to integrate these two lines of evidence. To this end, regarding the concept of the behavioral immune system, it was investigated whether perceived vulnerability to infectious disease, as a cognitive component of the behavioral immune system, can moderate the relation between disgust, as the emotional component of this system, and symptoms of contamination OCD.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 350 university students in Tehran University through cluster random sampling. The participants were asked to complete the Persian version of the disgust scale, perceived vulnerability to disease questionnaire, and Vancouver contamination subscale. The data were analyzed utilizing hierarchical regression analysis and post hoc tests. 
Results: The results revealed that perceived vulnerability to infectious disease moderated the relationship between the feeling of disgust and fear of contamination.  According to the results, perceived infectability subscale which measures perceived weakness of one's immune system with more accuracy, can also exacerbate the relationship between the feeling of disgust and fear of contamination.
Conclusion: The results of this study facilitate the understanding of the effect of disgust on fear of contamination, especially the role of cognitions about contagion and disease in potentiating the relation between disgust and contamination OCD. Moreover the obtained results generally provide evidence for the disease-avoidance theory in disgust and support the possible hyperactivity of the behavioral immune system in contamination OCD.
Keywords: Behavioral Immune System, Contamination Fear, Disgust, Obsessive -Compulsive Disorder, Perceived Vulnerability
Full-Text [PDF 1244 kb]   (1406 Downloads)    
Type of Study: Original | Subject: Clinical Psychology
References
1. Brady RE, Adams TG, Lohr JM. Disgust in contamination-based obsessive-compulsive disorder: a review and model. Expert Rev Neurother. 2010;10(8):1295-305. PMID: 20662755 DOI: 10.1586/ern.10.46
2. Hollander E, Kwon JH, Stein DJ, Broatch J, Rowland CT, Himelein CA. Obsessive-compulsive and spectrum disorders: overview and quality of life issues. J Clin Psychiatry. 1996;57(Suppl 8):3-6. PMID: 8698678
3. Kessler RC, Berglund P, Demler O, Jin R, Merikangas KR, Walters EE. Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2005;62(6):593-602. PMID: 15939837 DOI: 10.1001/archpsyc.62.6.593
4. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5®). New York: American Psychiatric Pub; 2013.
5. Gilbert AR, Mataix-Cols D, Almeida JR, Lawrence N, Nutche J, Diwadkar V, et al. Brain structure and symptom dimension relationships in obsessive-compulsive disorder: a voxel-based morphometry study. J Affect Disord. 2008;109(1-2):117-26. PMID: 18342953 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2007.12.223
6. Mataix-Cols D, van den Heuvel OA. Common and distinct neural correlates of obsessive-compulsive and related disorders. Psychiatr Clin North Am. 2006;29(2):391-410. PMID: 16650715 DOI: 10.1016/j.psc.2006.02.006
7. van den Heuvel OA, Remijnse PL, Mataix-Cols D, Vrenken H, Groenewegen HJ, Uylings HB, et al. The major symptom dimensions of obsessive-compulsive disorder are mediated by partially distinct neural systems. Brain. 2009;132(Pt 4):853-68. PMID: 18952675 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awn267
8. Rasmussen SA, Eisen JL. The epidemiology and clinical features of obsessive compulsive disorder. Psychiatr Clin North Am. 1992;15(4):743-58. PMID: 1461792
9. Rachman S, Hodgson RJ. Obsessions and compulsions. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall; 1980.
10. Rachman S. Fear of Contamination: assessment & treatment. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2006.
11. Rachman S. Fear of contamination. Behav Res Ther. 2004;42(11):1227-55.
12. Olatunji BO, Berg H, Cox RC, Billingsley A. The effects of cognitive reappraisal on conditioned disgust in contamination-based OCD: An analogue study. J Anxiety Disord. 2017;51:86-93. PMID: 28705679 DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2017.06.005
13. Ludvik D, Boschen MJ, Neumann DL. Effective behavioural strategies for reducing disgust in contamination-related OCD: a review. Clin Psychol Rev. 2015;42:116-29. PMID: 26190372 DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2015.07.001
14. Rozin P, Haidt J, McCauley CR. Disgust. In: Lewis M, Havilan-Jones JM, editors. Handbook of emotions. 2nd ed. New York: Guilford Press; 2000. P. 637-53.
15. Rozin P, Fallon AE. A perspective on disgust. Psychol Rev. 1987;94(1):23-41. PMID: 3823304
16. Oaten M, Stevenson RJ, Case TI. Disgust as a disease-avoidance mechanism. Psychol Bull. 2009;135(2):303-21. PMID: 19254082 DOI: 10.1037/a0014823
17. Cisler JM, Adams TG, Brady RE, Bridges AJ, Lohr JM, Olatunji BO. Unique affective and cognitive processes in contamination appraisals: implications for contamination fear. J Anxiety Disord. 2011;25(1):28-35. PMID: 20691567 DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2010.07.002
18. Olatunji BO, Sawchuk CN, Lohr JM, de Jong PJ. Disgust domains in the prediction of contamination fear. Behav Res Ther. 2004;42(1):93-104. PMID: 14744526
19. Moretz MW, McKay D. Disgust sensitivity as a predictor of obsessive-compulsive contamination symptoms and associated cognitions. J Anxiety Disord. 2008;22(4):707-15. PMID: 17719199 DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2007.07.004
20. Lawrence NS, An SK, Mataix-Cols D, Ruths F, Speckens A, Phillips ML. Neural responses to facial expressions of disgust but not fear are modulated by washing symptoms in OCD. Biol Psychiatry. 2007;61(9):1072-80. PMID: 17097073 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.06.033
21. Phillips ML, Marks IM, Senior C, Lythgoe D, O'Dwyer AM, Meehan O, et al. A differential neural response in obsessive-compulsive disorder patients with washing compared with checking symptoms to disgust. Psychol Med. 2000;
22. 30(5):1037-50. PMID: 12027041
23. Taboas W, Ojserkis R, McKay D. Change in disgust reactions following cognitive-behavioral therapy for childhood anxiety disorders. Int J Clin Health Psychol. 2015;15(1):1-7. PMID: 30487816 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijchp.2014.06.002
24. Athey AJ, Elias JA, Crosby JM, Jenike MA, Pope HG Jr, Hudson JI, et al. Reduced disgust propensity is associated with improvement in contamination/washing symptoms in obsessive-compulsive disorder. J Obsessive Compuls Relat Disord. 2015;1(4):20-4. PMID: 25485229 DOI: 10.1016/j.jocrd.2014.11.001
25. Adams TG, Cisler JM, Brady RE, Lohr JM, Olatunji BO. Preliminary psychometric evidence for distinct affective and cognitive mechanisms mediating contamination aversion. J Psychopathol Behav Assess. 2013;35(3):375-88. DOI: 10.1007/s10862-013-9343-8
26. Kurzban R, Leary MR. Evolutionary origins of stigmatization: the functions of social exclusion. Psychol Bull. 2001;127(2):187-208. PMID: 11316010
27. Schaller M, Park JH. The behavioral immune system (and why it matters). Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2011;20(2):99-103. DOI: 10.1177/0963721411402596
28. Rubio-Godoy M, Aunger R, Curtis V. Serotonin--a link between disgust and immunity? Med Hypotheses. 2007;68(1):61-6. PMID: 16928421 DOI: 10.1016/j.mehy.2006.06.036
29. Fessler DM, Eng SJ, Navarrete CD. Elevated disgust sensitivity in the first trimester of pregnancy: Evidence supporting the compensatory prophylaxis hypothesis. Evol Hum Behav. 2005;26(4):344-51. DOI: 0.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2004.12.001
30. Park JH, Schaller M, Crandall CS. Pathogen-avoidance mechanisms and the stigmatization of obese people. Evol Hum Behav. 2007;28(6):410-4. DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2007.05.008
31. Park JH, Faulkner J, Schaller M. Evolved disease-avoidance processes and contemporary anti-social behavior: prejudicial attitudes and avoidance of people with physical disabilities. J Nonverbal Behav. 2003;27(2):65-87. DOI: 0.1023/A:1023910408854
32. Schaller M, Duncan LA. The behavioral immune system: Its evolution and social psychological implications. Evolution and the social mind: Evolutionary psychology and social cognition. Sydney symposium of social psychology. New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group; 2007. P. 293-307.
33. Navarrete CD, Fessler DM. Disease avoidance and ethnocentrism: the effects of disease vulnerability and disgust sensitivity on intergroup attitudes. Evol Hum Behav. 2006;27(4):270-82. DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2005.12.001
34. Faulkner J, Schaller M, Park JH, Duncan LA. Evolved disease-avoidance mechanisms and contemporary xenophobic attitudes. Group Proc Intergroup Relat. 2004;7(4):333-53. DOI: 10.1177/1368430204046142
35. Burns GL, Formea GM, Keortge S, Sternberger LG. The utilization of nonpatient samples in the study of obsessive compulsive disorder. Behav Res Ther. 1995;33(2):133-44. PMID: 7887872
36. Thordarson DS, Radomsky AS, Rachman S, Shafran R, Sawchuk CN, Ralph Hakstian A. The vancouver obsessional compulsive inventory (VOCI). Behav Res Ther. 2004;42(11):1289-314. PMID: 15381439 DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2003.08.007
37. Hodgson RJ, Rachman S. Obsessional-compulsive complaints. Behav Res Ther. 1977;15(5):389-95. PMID: 612339
38. Ghassemzadeh H, Shams G, Meysami A, Karamghadiri N. Psychometric properties of the persian version of the vancouver obsessional-compulsive inventory inventory (VOCI) in Iranian non-clinical sample. Psychology. 2017;8:206-25. DOI: 10.4236/psych.2017.81012
39. Duncan LA, Schaller M, Park JH. Perceived vulnerability to disease: development and validation of a 15-item self-report instrument. Pers Individ Dif. 2009;47(6):541-6. DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2009.05.001
40. Olatunji BO, Williams NL, Tolin DF, Abramowitz JS, Sawchuk CN, Lohr JM, et al. The Disgust Scale: item analysis, factor structure, and suggestions for refinement. Psychol Assess. 2007;19(3):281-97. PMID: 17845120 DOI: 10.1037/1040-3590.19.3.281
41. Haidt J, McCauley C, Rozin P. Individual differences in sensitivity to disgust: a scale sampling seven domains of disgust elicitors. Pers Individ Dif. 1994;16(5):701-13. DOI: 10.1016/0191-8869(94)90212-7
42. Shams G, Foroughi E, Moretz MW, Olatunji BO. Factor Structure and psychometric properties of the persian disgust scale-revised: examination of specificity to symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Psychology. 2013;4(6):526. DOI: 10.4236/psych.2013.46075
43. Tabachnick BG, Fidell LS, Ullman JB. Using multivariate statistics. Boston, MA: Pearson; 2001. P. 980.
44. Holmbeck GN. Post-hoc probing of significant moderational and mediational effects in studies of pediatric populations. J Pediatr Psychol. 2002;27(1):87-96. PMID: 11726683 DOI: 10.1093/jpepsy/27.1.87
45. Mitte K. Trait-disgust vs. fear of contamination and the judgmental bias of contamination concerns. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry. 2008;39(4):577-86. PMID: 18359478 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2008.01.005
46. Verwoerd J, de Jong PJ, Wessel I, van Hout WJ. “If I feel disgusted, I must be getting ill”: Emotional reasoning in the context of contamination fear. Behav Res Ther. 2013;51(3):122-7. PMID: 23337180 DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2012.11.005
47. Jones MK, Menzies RG. The cognitive mediation of obsessive-compulsive handwashing. Behav Res Ther. 1997;35(9):843-50. PMID: 9299804
48. Miller SL, Maner JK. Sick body, vigilant mind: the biological immune system activates the behavioral immune system. Psychol Sci. 2011;22(12):1467-71. PMID: 22058109 DOI: 10.1177/0956797611420166
49. Ackerman JM, Hill SE, Murray DR. The behavioral immune system: current concerns and future directions. Soc Personal Psychol Compass. 2018;12(2):e12371. DOI: 10.1111/spc3.12371
50. Fessler DM, Clark JA, Clint EK. Evolutionary psychology and evolutionary anthropology. The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons; 2015. P. 1-18.
51. Ackerman JM, Becker DV, Mortensen CR, Sasaki T, Neuberg SL, Kenrick DT. A pox on the mind: Disjunction of attention and memory in the processing of physical disfigurement. J Exp Soc Psychol. 2009;45(3):478-85. PMID: 19578547 DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2008.12.008
52. Radomsky AS, Rachman S. Memory bias in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Behav Res Ther. 1999;37(7):605-18. PMID: 10402686
53. Cisler JM, Olatunji BO. Components of attentional biases in contamination fear: evidence for difficulty in disengagement. Behav Res Ther. 2010;48(1):74-8. PMID: 19781691 DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2009.09.003
54. Curtis V, Aunger R, Rabie T. Evidence that disgust evolved to protect from risk of disease. Proc Biol Sci. 2004;271(Suppl 4):S131-3. PMID: 15252963 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2003.0144
55. Rachman S. Pollution of the mind. Behav Res Ther. 1994;32(3):311-4. PMID: 8192629
56. Mancini F, Gragnani A, D'Olimpio F. The connection between disgust and obsessions and compulsions in a non-clinical sample. Pers Individ Dif. 2001;31(7):1173-80. DOI: 10.1016/S0191-8869(00)00215-4
57. McNally R. Disgust has arrived. J Anxiety Disord. 2002;16(5):561-6. PMID: 12396212
58. Adams Jr TG, Cisler JM, Brady RE, Lohr JM. The effects of cognitive and affective priming on law of contagion appraisals. J Exp Psychopathol. 2012;3(3):470-8. DOI: 10.5127/jep.025911
59. Tolin DF, Worhunsky P, Maltby N. Sympathetic magic in contamination-related OCD. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry. 2004;35(2):193-205. PMID: 15210379 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2004.04.009
60. Tolin DF, Brady RE, Hannan S. Obsessional beliefs and symptoms of obsessive--compulsive disorder in a clinical sample. J Psychopathol Behav Assess. 2008;30(1):31-42. DOI: 10.1007/s10862-007-9076-7
61. Adams TG Jr, Willems JL, Bridges AJ. Contamination aversion and repeated exposure to disgusting stimuli. Anxiety Stress Coping. 2011;24(2):157-65. PMID: 20737324 DOI: 10.1080/10615806.2010.506953
62. Fink J, Pflugradt E, Stierle C, Exner C. Changing disgust through imagery rescripting and cognitive reappraisal in contamination-based obsessive-compulsive disorder. J Anxiety Disord. 2018;54:36-48. PMID: 29421371 DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2018.01.002
63. Mason EC, Richardson R. Looking beyond fear: the extinction of other emotions implicated in anxiety disorders. J Anxiety Disord. 2010;24(1):63-70. PMID: 19747796 DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2009.08.007
64. Mitte K. Trait-disgust vs. fear of contamination and the judgmental bias of contamination concerns. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry. 2008;39(4):577-86. PMID: 18359478 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2008.01.005
65. Cisler JM, Brady RE, Olatunji BO, Lohr JM. Disgust and obsessive beliefs in contamination-related OCD. Cognit Ther Res. 2010;34(5):439-48. PMID: 20877585 DOI: 10.1007/s10608-009-9253-y
Add your comments about this article : Your username or Email:
CAPTCHA
Send email to the article author

Rights and permissions
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

© 2024 CC BY-NC 4.0 | Avicenna Journal of Clinical Medicine

Designed & Developed by : Yektaweb