The potentiating effect of disgust sensitivity on the relationship between disgust propensity and mental contamination

• Further examined associations between disgust and mental contamination.
• Examined disgust propensity (DP) and disgust sensitivity (DS).
• DP and DS evidenced an interaction in relation to mental contamination.
• Interaction was unaccounted for by negative affect or broader contamination fears.

Disgust is important to mental contamination, a contamination fear that arises in the absence of physical contact with a perceived contaminant. Researchers have distinguished between disgust propensity, defined as one's general tendency to experience disgust, and disgust sensitivity, defined as one's negative appraisal of the experience of disgust. Based upon speculations that disgust sensitivity may amplify the experience of disgust propensity on disgust-relevant outcomes, this study examined the interaction of disgust propensity and disgust sensitivity in relation to mental contamination among a community sample of adults located in the United States recruited through Amazon's Mechanical Turk (N=478). The results suggest that disgust sensitivity potentiates the effect of disgust propensity on mental contamination. The interactive effect was robust to the effects of negative affect and broader contamination fears. These results indicate that mental contamination is particularly strong among individuals with concurrently high disgust propensity and disgust sensitivity. Implications and future directions are explored.