Disgust

Disgust is an emotion, typically associated with things that are perceived as unclean or inedible. In The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, Charles Darwin wrote that disgust refers to something revolting. Primarily in relation to the sense of taste, as actually perceived or vividly imagined; and secondarily to anything which causes a similar feeling. Through the sense of smell, touch, and even of eyesight. Disgust is one of the basic emotions of Robert Plutchik's theory of emotions.

Disgust may be further subdivided into physical disgust, associated with physical or metaphorical uncleanness, and moral disgust, a similar feeling related to courses of action. Antonyms to disgust are sympathy and also liking.

Purity and pollution

Disgust is thought to have its origins in (and in some cases to be identical to) instinctive reactions that evolved as part of natural selection for behavior which tended to prevent food poisoning, or exposure to danger or infection. Disgust is frequently associated with waste products such as feces or urine, secretions from the human body (such as mucus), and with decomposing flesh, and insects associated with it.

As in other human instinctual drives, disgust has an instinctual and a socially constructed aspect. Religious concepts of purity and pollution underlie various systems of taboo food and drink, such as the Jewish rules of kashrut and the Islamic distinction between halal and haram foods. Mary Douglas's 1966 book Purity and Danger attempted to ascribe these rules not to health or ecological reasons as some had hypothesized before, but rather to attempts to maintain symbolic boundaries: the forbidden and unkosher animals were not eaten because their place in the natural order was felt to be ambiguous, "neither fish nor fowl". Believers in food taboos feel that they may be contaminated by exposure to forbidden foods, regardless of their consumption by others or standards of preparation, and can manifest all of the physical and emotional symptoms of disgust at their presence.

Socially constructed forms of the psychology of purity and pollution are also implicated in racism and sexism. Traditional taboos believe that sacred shrines or temples would be polluted by the presence of women or foreigners, or that menstruating women defiled various processes such as the brewing of beer or the smithing of iron. A mere belief in racial superiority is in itself logically inadequate to justify cultural practices such as racially segregated drinking fountains in the American South, or separate benches for Aryans and Jews in Nazi Germany. Only a belief in contagion in addition to inferiority — the idea that the superior race would be polluted by mere physical contact with the inferior race — explains the observed phenomena. Similar beliefs have recently been constructed in some societies about tobacco smoking. Jonathan Haidt is a researcher whose work involves exploring the relationship between disgust and various traditional concepts of morality. His theory of social intuitionism seeks to explain the apparently pre-rational and visceral reactions to violations of the moral order.

Disgust and shame

Martha Nussbaum, a leading American philosopher, wrote a book published in 2004 entitled Hiding From Humanity: Disgust, Shame, and the Law which examines the relationship of disgust and shame to a society's laws.

A recent study found that women and children were more sensitive to disgust than men. Researchers attempted to explain this finding in evolutionary terms. While some find wisdom in adhering to one's feelings of disgust, some scientists have asserted that "reactions of disgust are often built upon prejudices that should be challenged and rebutted."

See also

• foodborne illness
• taboo
• phobia
• nausea
• Elephant Seal

External links

• Nancy Sherman, a researcher investigating disgust
• Jon Haidt's page about the Disgust Scale
• Moral Judgment and the Social Intuitionist Model, publications by Jonathan Haidt on disgust and its relationship with moral ideas
• Hiding from Humanity: Disgust, Shame, and the Law
• Shame and Group Psychotherapy
• "Is repugnance wise? Visceral responses to biotechnology" Nature Biotechnology
• Purity and Pollution by Jonathan Kirkpatrick (RTF)
• Paper on the economic effects of Repugnance
• Goatse