Trypophobia refers to the extreme negative reaction when viewing clusters of circular objects. Two major evolutionary frameworks have been proposed to account for trypophobic visual discomfort. The skin disease-avoidance (SD) framework proposes that trypophobia is an over-generalised response to stimuli resembling pathogen-related skin diseases. The dangerous animal (DA) framework posits that some dangerous organisms and trypophobic stimuli share similar visual characteristics. Here, we performed the first experimental manipulations which directly compare these two frameworks by superimposing trypophobic imagery onto multiple image (...) categories to evaluate changes in comfort. Participants from two countries (United States and Croatia) were evaluated on several measures, including general trypophobia levels, perceived vulnerability to disease, and generalised anxiety. Several analyses showed stronger changes in comfort in the human skin condition (hand, feet, and chest images) compared to the dangerous animal condition (snake and spider images). Furthermore, participants with higher levels of trypophobia showed significantly stronger changes in comfort in the skin condition than the dangerous animal condition, with comparable effects obtained across nationalities. Several variables entered as covariates failed to significantly account for this effect. The present work is the first to experimentally test both evolutionary frameworks of trypophobia, with results supporting the skin disease-avoidance framework. (shrink)

Trypophobia is a relatively common aversion to clusters of holes. There is no consensus yet on which emotions are involved in Trypophobia nor in its functional utility. This report investigates the role of disgust using contamination tasks in two studies, which contrast people with an aversion to trypophobic stimuli to those without. In Study 1, participants reported their emotional reactions to imagined contamination of trypophobic images. In Study 2, participants evaluated physically present trypophobic, disgust, fear, and control stimuli. The capacity (...) of these stimuli to contaminate other objects was established using a chain of contagion task. Across both studies, contamination was present, however, only those with an aversion to trypophobic stimuli evidenced contamination on the chain of contagion task, a hallmark of disgust responding. Elevated levels were not only reported for disgust, but also alongside fear/anxiety. Participant reports suggest an underlying disease avoidance mechanism in Trypophobia, with trypophobic participants demonstrating an exaggerated response to such stimuli involving disgust and fear/anxiety, which is also seen in small animal phobia, BII, and C-OCD. Implications, particularly for treatment are discussed. (shrink)

To understand the consequences of cleansing, Lee and Schwarz favor a grounded procedures perspective over recently developed disgust theory. We believe that this position stems from three errors: (1) interpreting cleansing effects as broader than they are; (2) not detailing the proximate mechanisms underlying disgust; and (3) not detailing adaptive function versus system byproducts when developing the grounded procedures perspective.