The Influence of Background Objects on Unpleasantness Evoked by Lotus-seed-pods-on-the-living-body Images (“Hasu-colla”)

抄録

The photomontage of lotus seedpods on human skin has been called “Hasu-colla” in Japan, and this can elicit strong aversion in viewers. Previous studies have reported that lotus seedpods evoke core disgust, and that Hasu-colla relates to animal reminder disgust. However, the relationship between unpleasantness evoked by lotus seedpods and that by Hasu-colla has not been demonstrated. The present study investigated whether Hasu-colla evokes stronger disgust than lotus seedpods presented alone as well as differences between background objects (from animal to stone) in evoking aversion. Hasu-colla induced stronger unpleasantness than did lotus seedpods and background objects presented alone (Exp. 1 and 2). The amplification of unpleasantness was weakest in stones and strongest in dogs among animals (Exp. 2). Lotus seedpods, which are related to disgust for clusters, evoke strong feelings of contamination, supporting the possibility that such clusters are associated with scars and sores.