| Summary: | The emotion of disgust evolved as a way to protect oneself from illness and is associated with aspects of disease avoidance. Disgust Scale–Revised (DS-R) (Olatunji et al., 2008) measures the disgust propensity of three kinds of disgust (core, animal reminder, contamination). Contextual factors, such as academic background, might influence DS-R scoring, especially among medical students, where the notion of disease is central. We examined DS-R scoring and the choice of postgraduate studies in medical (<i>n</i> = 94) and psychology (<i>n</i> = 97) students. In an anonymous web-based survey, participants completed the DS-R and a questionnaire including plans for postgraduate studies. Females outnumbered males and scored higher in total DS-R score (<i>p</i> = 0.003). Psychology students scored higher in all three kinds of disgust (<i>p</i> < 0.001 for core disgust and animal reminder, <i>p</i> = 0.069 for contamination disgust), indicating a higher level of disease avoidance. Medical students willing to follow Internal Medicine scored higher in core disgust (<i>p</i> < 0.05), while psychology students willing to study Experimental Psychology scored lower in the animal reminder subscale (<i>p</i> = 0.019 and <i>p</i> < 0.001 for the association between these subscales and the orientation of Medical and Psychology Students, respectively). In conclusion, disgust propensity as rated by DS-R is related to academic background and orientation preferences in postgraduate studies.
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