Ricerc@Sapienza

Literature suggests that checking behaviors are aimed at reducing feelings of uncertainty both in clinical samples with obsessive-compulsive disorder and in general population. Previous studies also showed that deontological guilt is an emotion often associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Thus, the aim of the current study was to investigate the differences in checking behaviors in the condition of high versus low uncertainty, by exploring the moderating role of deontological versus altruistic guilt.

The emotions of guilt and disgust play a pivotal role in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The present study hypothesized the existence of a distinctive relation between deontological (but not altruistic) guilt and subjective and physiological correlates of disgust. Moreover, we aimed at testing whether the evoked emotion of disgust may activate OCD-like washing behaviors.