Evaluative learning and emotional responding to fearful and disgusting stimuli in spider phobia

Abstract

The present study explores possible changes between spider phobics (N=22) and nonphobics (N=28) in fear, disgust, and neutral ratings of neutral expressions as a result of their pairing with spiders. No statistically significant differences were detected between pre and post fear ratings of the expressions as a result of their association with spiders. However, post disgust ratings were marginally higher than pre disgust ratings and post neutral ratings were significantly lower than pre neutral ratings. The present study also examined differences in fear and disgust responding to threat-relevant and disgust-relevant stimuli between spider phobics and nonphobics. Spider phobics reported significantly more fear and disgust than nonphobics towards threat and disgust-relevant stimuli. The relation between spider phobia and disgust responding to spiders was partially mediated by fear whereas the relation between spider phobia and disgust responding to rotting foods and body products was fully mediated by fear. Emotional responding to threat-relevant and disgust-relevant stimuli was also significantly associated with disgust sensitivity when controlling for trait anxiety. These findings support the notion that the disgust response in spider phobia is independent of fear to the extent that it is specifically bound to spiders.