Disgust Scale – Revised

What it measures

Measures individual sensitivity to disgust across three domains. Core Disgust captures the primary biological function of disgust — sensitivity to potential pathogens in food, body products, and animals. Animal Reminder Disgust captures sensitivity to stimuli that remind humans of their animal nature (death, body envelope violations, sex) and relate to Terror Management Theory concerns. Contamination-based Disgust captures concern about being contaminated by contact with other people or objects. Disgust sensitivity is relevant to a wide range of consumer psychology phenomena including responses to novel or foreign foods, body image and appearance, health advertising, sexual content in advertising, contamination concerns in product choice, and moral disgust responses to brand transgressions and unethical corporate behaviour.

Response format

Likert (0–4, not disgusting at all to extremely disgusting) plus yes/no items

Representative items

• You see maggots on a piece of meat in an outdoor garbage can. (Core)
• You are about to drink a glass of milk when you smell that it is spoiled. (Core)
• You see a man with his intestines exposed after an accident. (Animal Reminder)
• You accidentally touch the ashes of a person who has been cremated. (Animal Reminder)
• A friend offers you a piece of chocolate shaped like dog poop. (Contamination)

Usage notes & scoring

Three subscale scores. Core Disgust predicts food choice avoidance and contamination-based product evaluation. Animal Reminder Disgust predicts responses to body-related advertising and mortality salience effects. Contamination Disgust predicts avoidance of products used by others (shared products, secondhand goods) and is moderated by perceived contagion. Revised from the original Disgust Scale by Haidt, McCauley & Rozin (1994) with improved psychometric properties. A 12-item DS-R short form is available.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Olatunji, B.O., Williams, N.L., Tolin, D.F., Abramowitz, J.S., Sawchuk, C.N., Lohr, J.M., & Elwood, L.S. (2007). The Disgust Scale: Item analysis, factor structure, and suggestions for refinement. Psychological Assessment, 19(3), 281–297.

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