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Disgusting clusters: trypophobia as an overgeneralised disease avoidance response.

Tom R Kupfer¹, An T D Le²

¹a School of Psychology, The University of Kent , Canterbury , UK.

Cognition & Emotion

|July 7, 2017

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Trypophobia, an aversion to clustered shapes, may stem from an evolutionary response to disease cues. This study found trypophobic individuals react to harmless patterns, linking the phobia to disgust and disease avoidance.

Keywords:

Disgust clusters disease avoidance ectoparasites trypophobia

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Area of Science:

Psychology
Evolutionary Biology
Dermatology

Background:

Trypophobia is characterized by an aversion to clusters of roughly circular shapes.
The evolutionary basis for this condition, despite typically harmless stimuli, remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the evolutionary origins of trypophobia.
To explore the connection between trypophobia, disgust sensitivity, and disease avoidance.
To determine if trypophobia is an exaggerated adaptive response to disease cues.

Main Methods:

Participants (trypophobic and comparison groups) rated their aversion to various cluster stimuli, including disease-relevant and objectively harmless ones.
Disgust sensitivity was measured.
Emotion ratings and open-ended responses were analyzed.

Main Results:

Both groups showed aversion to disease-relevant clusters.
Only the trypophobic group reported aversion to harmless clusters.
Aversion levels were predicted by disgust sensitivity.
The primary emotion reported was disgust, often associated with disease avoidance and skin sensations.

Conclusions:

Trypophobia may be an overgeneralized, evolutionarily prepared response to stimuli resembling disease cues, particularly ectoparasites and skin pathogens.
Disgust sensitivity is a key factor in trypophobic reactions.
The findings support a link between trypophobia and innate disease avoidance mechanisms.