Introduction - Development of Disgust Survey

You are invited to participate in a study examining the development of disgust responding from infancy to early adulthood.  The purpose of the study is to establish at what age things start to disgust us. The study is being conducted by A/Prof Dick Stevenson, Dept. of Psychology, Macquarie University, Australia (Ph: 61-2-9850-8098 email: rstevens@psy.mq.edu.au). If you decide to participate, you will be asked to answer a series of questions which describe disgusting things. The key question is whether you think your infant/child/adolescent would be disgusted by them. The study is funded by the Australian Research Council. This is an anonymous survey. Any information or personal details gathered in the course of the study are confidential. Only Dick Stevenson will have access to the raw data. The ethical aspects of this study have been approved by the Macquarie University Ethics Review Committee (Human Research).  If you have any complaints or reservations about any ethical aspect of your participation in this research, you may contact the Ethics Review Committee through its Secretary (telephone 61-2-9850-7854; email ethics@mq.edu.au).  Any complaint you make will be treated in confidence and investigated, and you will be informed of the outcome.

Please start the survey here...

Please answer all of these background questions.  They will help us later when we look at peoples responses overall. If you have more than one child, please decide now which one you wish to answer for and just stick with that 'one' throughout the survey.(You are welcome to repeat the survey for a second or further child).

Background questions...

1. What age is your son/daughter (the one for whom the survey is being completed)?

2. What is your relationship to them?

3. Are you the caregiver who spends most of the time with them?

4. Is your child male or female? 5. What age are you?

6. What is your gender?

7. What country do you live in?

8. Is English the language you speak at home?

Disgust questions...

Each question below describes a situation that people may or may not find disgusting. When people feel disgusted, they may want to avoid the thing that made them disgusted and/or they may want to move or turn away from it.  It may also make them feel sick.  Disgust also has a characteristic facial expression – such as when you taste something really foul (see below).  People may also say out loud – that’s gross or disgusting!

What we would like you to do is to think whether your son/daughter would be disgusted by each of the events described below.  We will then ask whether you would be disgusted too.  Please try to think how your son/daughter would react, not how you might like them to react.  There are no right or wrong answers here.

9. Your son/daughter sees someone dropping litter in an attractive park

Would your son/daughter be disgusted?




Would you be disgusted?




10. Your son/daughter sees somebody steal a bag from a disabled person

Would your son/daughter be disgusted?




Would you be disgusted?




11. Your son/daughter sees a politician interviewed on TV who is clearly lying

Would your son/daughter be disgusted?




Would you be disgusted?




12.  Your son/daughter sees someone cover their ice-cream in tomato sauce and eat it

Would your son/daughter be disgusted?




Would you be disgusted?




13.  Your son/daughter sees maggots in a dustbin

Would your son/daughter be disgusted?




Would you be disgusted?




14. Your son/daughter is in a lift. A stranger silently passes's wind making a very strong smell

Would your son/daughter be disgusted?




Would you be disgusted?




15.  Your son/daughter sees a wedding photograph of a teenager marrying a very elderly person

Would your son/daughter be disgusted?




Would you be disgusted?




16. Your son/daughter accidentally touches a dead bird

Would your son/daughter be disgusted?




Would you be disgusted?




17. Your son/daughter sees someone deeply cut their foot. The wound bleeds profusely

Would your son/daughter be disgusted?




Would you be disgusted?




18.  Your son/daughter sees someone with very dirty hands eating a sandwich

Would your son/daughter be disgusted?




Would you be disgusted?




19. For a joke your son/daughter is given some cake shaped and coloured like a dog poo

Would your son/daughter be disgusted?




Would you be disgusted?




20. Your son/daughter sees someone spit on to the pavement

Would your son/daughter be disgusted?




Would you be disgusted?




21. Your son/daughter sees a teenager swearing at an elderly person

Would your son/daughter be disgusted?




Would you be disgusted?




22. Your son/daughter sees a company director on TV announcing large profits shortly after sacking many workers

Would your son/daughter be disgusted?




Would you be disgusted?




23.  Your son/daughter sees someone eating messy food with their fingers

Would your son/daughter be disgusted?




Would you be disgusted?




24.  Your son/daughter sees a large cockroach run across the floor

Would your son/daughter be disgusted?




Would you be disgusted?




25. Your son/daughter passes through a subway that smells of urine

Would your son/daughter be disgusted?




Would you be disgusted?




26.  Your son/daughter sees two dogs vigorously mating

Would your son/daughter be disgusted?




Would you be disgusted?




27. Your son/daughter accidentally touches a dead cat

Would your son/daughter be disgusted?




Would you be disgusted?




28. Your son/daughter is shown a human hand preserved in a jar

Would your son/daughter be disgusted?




Would you be disgusted?




29.  Your son/daughter sees a waiter accidentally sneeze on someone else’s dinner

Would your son/daughter be disgusted?




Would you be disgusted?




30. At a party all the guests, including your son/daughter, are given their drinks in dog’s bowls

Would your son/daughter be disgusted?




Would you be disgusted?




31. Does your son/daughter have any medical/psychological condition which you think might influence whether they are disgusted by things?     

Thank you for completing this survey. We would be very grateful if you would ask other parents to complete it as well. If you would like to see the results from this survey (or participate in research on disgust) then just keep an eye on this web page.

To submit the survey, just hit the submit button below.

Best wishes and thanks

Richard J. Stevenson