Disgust may play an important role in several mental disorders, in part because disgust seems impervious to corrective information, a feature noted long before it was studied by clinical psychologists. A deeper understanding of disgust could improve not only the treatment of mental disorders, but also other societal problems involving this peculiar emotion. In this paper, we review the measurement of disgust and identify issues that hold back progress in understanding how to treat this emotion. First, self-report measures of disgust, although optimized in terms of reliability, are compromised in terms of validity due to the “lexical fallacy,” that is, the assumption that vernacular usage of emotion terms reveals natural kinds. Improved self-report measures that parse disgust from neighboring states of discomfort and disapproval can address this limitation, but these approaches are absent in clinical psychology. Second, “objective” measures of disgust, although free of vernacular limitations, require greater psychometric scrutiny. In a critical review, we find that most instrument-based measures fail to demonstrate adequate reliability, rendering them unsuitable for the individual differences research crucial to clinical psychology. In light of this assessment, we provide several recommendations for improving the reliability and validity of disgust measurement, including renewed attention to theory.

厌恶可能在几种精神障碍中发挥重要作用，部分原因是厌恶似乎不受纠正信息的影响，这一特征早在临床心理学家研究之前就已注意到。更深入地了解厌恶不仅可以改善精神障碍的治疗，还可以改善涉及这种特殊情绪的其他社会问题。在本文中，我们回顾了厌恶的测量并确定了阻碍理解如何对待这种情绪的进展的问题。首先，自我报告的厌恶程度虽然在可靠性方面进行了优化，但由于“词汇谬误”，即假设情感术语的白话使用揭示了自然类型，因此在有效性方面受到了损害。改进的自我报告措施可以解析来自邻近状态的不适和不赞成的厌恶，可以解决这个限制，但这些方法在临床心理学中是不存在的。其次，厌恶的“客观”衡量标准虽然没有白话限制，但需要更严格的心理测量审查。在批判性审查中，我们发现大多数基于仪器的测量未能证明足够的可靠性，使它们不适用于对临床心理学至关重要的个体差异研究。根据这一评估，我们提供了一些提高厌恶测量的可靠性和有效性的建议，包括重新关注理论。需要更严格的心理测量检查。在批判性审查中，我们发现大多数基于仪器的测量未能证明足够的可靠性，使它们不适用于对临床心理学至关重要的个体差异研究。根据这一评估，我们提供了一些提高厌恶测量的可靠性和有效性的建议，包括重新关注理论。需要更严格的心理测量检查。在批判性审查中，我们发现大多数基于仪器的测量未能证明足够的可靠性，使它们不适用于对临床心理学至关重要的个体差异研究。根据这一评估，我们提供了一些提高厌恶测量的可靠性和有效性的建议，包括重新关注理论。