Translational Issues in Psychological Science, Vol 12(1), Mar 2026, 19-29; doi:10.1037/tps0000469
In their daily work, paramedics are often confronted with situations that can elicit strong emotions. In a previous study, we were able to show that paramedics rate emergency-related disgust and sadness stimuli as less unpleasant than people who are not constantly confronted with emergency situations. However, it remains unclear which fundamental processes underlie the reduced emotional response of paramedics. In the present study, we investigated the emotional response of paramedics (n = 65) and a comparison sample without medical experience (n = 65). Particular attention was paid to habituation and distancing processes. The reactions to repeatedly presented near-threshold emotion-inducing pictures (disgust, sadness, and fear), with conceptual and perceptual similarity to real emergency situations, were compared with reactions to previously nonpresented pictures in two conditions (with distancing vs. without distancing). Compared to the control group, paramedics reacted less intensely to emergency-related disgust and sadness stimuli and habituated more strongly to these stimuli. Distancing was equally effective for both groups. The lower emotional response of the paramedics can therefore be because of generalization of habituation processes. Although habituation is often described as a nonassociative process, experience with similar stimuli appears to play a central role in the habituation process. With the present research, we start an attempt to show that basic and applied research can complement each other in a meaningful way. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)