Celebration of Scholars
O3 - The Disgust Domains and Their Relation to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Dimensions
Name:
Tyler Pasquale
Major: Psychology/Sociology
Hometown: North Mankato
Faculty Sponsor: Sara O'Brien
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Senior thesis
Abstract
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) consists of obsessive thoughts and compulsions meant to combat those thoughts and is considered to have five dimensions: Obsessing, Washing, Checking, Neutralizing, and Ordering. While not required by the DSM-5 for an OCD diagnosis, maladaptive levels of disgust are also often seen in OCD patients. Disgust is generally characterized by avoidance and revulsion to certain sensations or experiences, such as expired food. There are a number of disgust domains, with the four domains relevant to this study being Animal-Reminder, Contamination, Core, and Moral disgust. Though it is understood that there is a connection between OCD and disgust, most literature only looks at the two in a general sense. Little recent research examines how specific dimensions of disgust might relate to the dimensions of OCD. As such, the present study proposes to use both Behavioral Avoidance Tasks (BATs) and self-report measures to connect previous self-report research to in-lab experimentation. We hypothesize that Animal-Reminder, Contamination, and Core disgust will predict the Washing, Checking, and Ordering dimensions of OCD. Moral disgust will be examined through exploratory analysis, though it is anticipated that it will share its strongest relations with Neutralizing and Obsessing. If the hypotheses are supported, it would provide a level of validation to BAT procedures and establish that they map onto the self-reported data. If the hypothesis is not supported, it may indicate potential confounds, overestimation of hypothetical disgust, or underestimation of potential disgust.Submit date: March 3, 2025, 1:34 p.m.