Behaviour Research and Therapy 42 (2004) 207–216 www.elsevier.com/locate/brat Behavioral avoidance tests and disgust in contamination fears: distinctions from trait anxiety  Steven D. Tsao, Dean McKay * Fordham University, Department of Psychology, 441 East Fordham Road, Bronx, NY 10458-5198, USA Received 24 November 2002; received in revised form 31 March 2003; accepted 3 April 2003 Abstract Much of the existing literature examining the role of disgust is limited to specific phobia. Recent research has begun to examine the role of disgust in contamination fear, a subtype of obsessive–compulsive symp- toms. Through the use of behavioral avoidance tasks (BATs), the current study was designed to examine the role of disgust in people with contamination fears, with attention to distinguishing high and low trait anxiety. From a large screening of undergraduate students, three groups were formed based on their level of contamination fear and level of trait anxiety: contamination fearful (n = 12), high-trait anxiety (n = 11), and low trait anxiety (n = 15). Subjects were asked to engage in six different BATs corresponding to six domains of disgust (food, animals, body products, body envelope violations, death, and sympathetic magic). One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed significant differences between the contamination fearful group and the high trait anxiety group on the animal and sympathetic magic BATs. Significant differences on the food, animal, body envelope violations, and death BATs were also found between the contamination fearful group and the low-trait anxious group. The findings modestly support the importance of disgust in contamination fears. Implications for the study of disgust in contamination fear are provided.  2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction One of the most common types of obsessional thoughts in obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is the fear of contaminants (Steketee, Grayson & Foa, 1984). The crux of these obsessions is that there exist contaminants, such as germs and viruses, present throughout the environment that can cause harm. The anxiety caused by contamination fears is commonly alleviated by engag- * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-718-817-3775; fax: +1-718-817-3785. E-mail address: mckay@fordham.edu (D. McKay).  Portions of these data were presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Reno, NV. 0005-7967/$ - see front matter  2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0005-7967(03)00119-0