Disgust sensitivity and the sex difference in fears to common indigenous animals

Abstract

Davey's mediational hypothesis [Davey, G. C. L. (1994). Self-reported fears to common indigenous animals in an adult UK population: the role of disgust sensitivity. British Journal of Psychology, 85, 541-554.] suggests that the sex difference in self-assessed animal fears can be accounted for by the sex difference in disgust sensitivity. An empirical test failed to support this hypothesis in a non-clinical sample (N = 214). Holding constant the influences of confounders such as age, fear of contamination, sex roles, neuroticism, psychoticism and disgust sensitivity, biological sex kept emerging as a significant predictor in relation to four types of animal fears (fear-relevant animals, dry or non-slimy invertebrates, slimy or wet looking animals and farm animals). Other things being equal, high disgust sensitivity either lost its predictive capability (in relation to dry or non-slimy invertebrates and slimy or wet looking animals) or predicted high fear of fear-relevant animals and of farm animals inequivalently across, respectively, the sexes (high in females only) and age groups (high in the old only). A multifactorial, interactionist approach should be advocated in the study of the aetiology of animal fears if progress in this area is to be achieved.