For whom the bell tolls: experimentally-manipulated disgust and embarrassment may cause anticipated sexual healthcare avoidance among some people.

This study was designed to experimentally determine whether disgust and embarrassment predict anticipated delay and avoidance in sexual healthcare decision-making and for whom. In the study, 90 participants, aged 18-30, completed web-based questionnaires assessing demographics, current health, and past health behaviors before being gender block randomized to conditions in which disgust, embarrassment, or control (no emotion) were induced. Participants completed health decision-making vignettes covering the disgusting and embarrassing aspects of sexual healthcare.

Trait and state disgust: an experimental investigation of disgust and avoidance in colorectal cancer decision scenarios.

Objective: To evaluate whether trait and experimentally manipulated state disgust independently and/or interactively predict immediate and anticipated avoidance in decision scenarios related to colorectal cancer (CRC).

Method: Eighty participants, aged 18 to 66 years, completed questionnaires assessing trait disgust prior to a laboratory session. Participants were gender block randomized to disgust or control conditions before completing tasks assessing immediate avoidance of a CRC disgust elicitor (stoma bag) and anticipated avoidance in hypothetical CRC scenarios.