J. Hennig et al., SENSITIVITY TO DISGUST AS AN INDICATOR OF NEUROTICISM - A PSYCHOBIOLOGICAL APPROACH, Personality and individual differences, 20(5), 1996, pp. 589-596
This study was conducted to confirm previous questionnaire data claimi
ng higher sensitivity to disgust in neurotics, by an experimental appr
oach. Biological variables which had previously been demonstrated to r
eflect stress (salivary cortisol) and/or emotional lability (secretory
immunoglobulin A = sIgA) were used as markers for reactivity to induc
ed feelings of disgust. Thirty-two healthy male subjects were randomly
assigned to an experimental group (induction of disgust) or a control
group. Selected sequences of the German movie Die Blechtrommel were u
sed to induce disgust while subjects in the control condition were exp
osed to neutral movie sequences in a matched order. At defined time po
ints ratings on emotional states as well as saliva samples for determi
nation of sIgA and cortisol were obtained. Subjects were divided into
high and low neurotics (N+/N-). The results clearly demonstrate that t
he movie sequences induced feelings of disgust. However; N+ could not
be identified as high responders by questionnaire data. With respect t
o biological responsiveness, marked reductions in sIgA were observed i
n both groups. However, N- returned to baseline levels within 10 min,
whereas in N+ decreased secretion rates of sIgA were observed until th
e end of the experiment. For cortisol no changes could be observed in
either group. The results are discussed with respect to a reduced abil
ity to recover or re-adapt in subjects high in neuroticism. Copyright
(C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.