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Disgust

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Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences
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Synonyms

Disgust sensitivity

Definition

Disgust sensitivity refers to the degree to which individuals feel disgusted by objects or actions that typically arouse some disgust.

Introduction

Although all healthy adults experience disgust, not everyone is equally disgusted by the types of things that arouse at least some disgust in most people, such as the smell of unwashed bodies, the sight of spoiled meat, or the thought of a sexual rendezvous with a relative. Researchers have thus distinguished between “state disgust” – that is, the sensation of disgust in a specific moment – and “trait disgust” – that is, the tendency to experience disgust in response to a typical disgust elicitor. Trait disgust is most commonly referred to as disgust sensitivity, with higher disgust sensitivity corresponding with greater disgust toward typical disgust elicitors. The study of disgust sensitivity has recently garnered much attention, due to the relationship between disgust and topics ranging from...

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References

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Correspondence to Joshua M Tybur .

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Tybur, J.M. (2017). Disgust. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_503-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_503-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

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