Fessler et al
Fessler et al (2005)
Elevated disgust sensitivity in the first trimester of pregnancy
Aim:
- To investigate if disgust sensitivity in the first trimester of pregnancy was elevated as predicted.
Procedure:
- A Web-based survey was completed by 691 women recruited through pregnancy-related Web sites. No
- compensation was offered for participation. The women’s mean age was 28.1 years.
- On the Web-based questionnaire, the participants (1) indicated their current level of nausea using a 16-point
- scale and (2) answered questions to test their disgust sensitivity in eight different areas (e.g. food; contact with animals, body products, and dead animals; hygiene; contact with toilets).
Results:
- Overall, disgust sensitivity related to food and body products in women in the first trimester was higher compared to those in the second and third trimesters.
- Disgust was particularly elevated in relation to food, which was exactly what the researchers had predicted.
- Food-borne diseases are particularly dangerous to women in the first trimester and therefore it was predicted that disgust sensitivity related to food would be high. This was supported by the results.
- The results may indicate that nausea and vomiting are evolved behavior because they limit the likelihood that pregnant women will eat dangerous food.
Evaluation:
- The data was collected through questionnaires. Self-reports may not be reliable. This is not an effective way of measuring disgust. It would have been more reliable to confront participants with real disgust-eliciting objects.
- The effect sizes were not big but significant. The findings are supported by other studies (e.g. Curtiss et al. 2004) showing that images that threaten the immune system are judged as more disgusting.