Why do we find things disgusting?
In a TV show that aired on NBC from 2001-2006, Fear Factor revolved around contestants facing their fears through challenges and stunts, some of which were designed to be intentionally disgusting. In one segment, contestants were asked to drink donkey urine and semen. While some found the challenge repulsive, others saw it as an opportunity to prove their bravery. The show’s controversy and popularity highlights the subjective nature of human disgust. Now, to be disgusted simply means to have a strong feeling of disapproval/revulsion towards something unpleasant/offensive. This form of repulsion can be meant to protect us from things that could harm our bodies and it stems from our insula. The insula is the part of our brain which activates when we feel the emotions of disgust and is what encourages us to avoid any potentially harmful things .
Charles Darwin, also known as the father of evolution, originally believed disgust was associated with food, to prevent pathogen exposure. This became known as PDS, pathogen Disgust Sensitivity. People with higher PDS have higher avoidance of cues of pathogens, and lower prevalence and intensity of infections. Also derived from Darwinian ideas, disgust also is believed to be adaptive because of their expulsion from the group can deter crime, since one could be motivated to refrain from doing things that caused him or her to be the subject of such contempt.
Individuals with higher levels of anxiety are more likely to view the world as threatening and dangerous as well. Disgust responses are not only derived from emotional distress and anxiety, but can also be influenced by parental modeling. Children more often than not learn from parents’ behaviors and attitudes towards disgust, internalize those values and beliefs. Those parental influences combined with negative emotional reactions can lead to higher sensitivity to disgusting stimuli and in turn produce greater response to them.
Overall, disgust is a natural human emotion and response that is a protective mechanism against potentially harmful things and it is hugely influenced by our anxiety, emotional distress, and parental modeling. By now understanding the basics of disgust, it allows for further inspection on “How disgust plays a role as a necessary emotion for survival in the modern world, and how our experiences and upbringing shape our disgust response?”