A woman with a look of disgust.
Disgust is an
emotion that
is typically associated with things that are regarded as
unclean,
inedible,
infectious, or otherwise offensive. For example,
"I am disgusted by the stench and sight of that heap of rotting
viscera." In
The Expression
of the Emotions in Man and Animals,
Charles Darwin wrote that disgust refers to
something revolting. Disgust is experienced primarily in relation
to the sense of taste (either perceived or imagined), and
secondarily to anything which causes a similar feeling by sense of
smell, touch, or vision. Musically sensitive people may even be
disgusted by the cacophony of inharmonious sounds. Disgust is one
of the basic emotions of
Robert
Plutchik's theory of emotions. It invokes a characteristic
facial expression, one of
Paul Ekman's
six universal facial expressions of emotion. Unlike the emotions of
fear,
anger, and
sadness, disgust is associated with a decrease in
heart rate.
Disgust may be further subdivided into physical disgust, associated
with physical or metaphorical
uncleanliness,
and
moral disgust, a similar feeling
related to courses of action. For example; "I am disgusted by the
hurtful things that you are saying." Moral disgust should be
understood as culturally determined; physical disgust as more
universally grounded. In
The Hydra’s Tale: Imagining
Disgust, Robert Rawdon Wilson discusses moral disgust as an
aspect of the representation of disgust. He does this in two ways.
First, he discusses representations of disgust in literature, film
and fine art. Since there are characteristic facial expressions
(the clenched nostrils, the pursed lips), as Darwin,
Ekman and others have shown, they may be represented
with more or less skill in any set of circumstances imaginable.
There may even be “disgust worlds” in which disgust motifs so
dominate that it may seem that entire represented world is, in
itself, disgusting. Second, since people know what disgust is as a
primary, or visceral, emotion (with characteristic gestures and
expressions), they may imitate it. Thus, Wilson argues, contempt
is, for example, acted out on the basis of the visceral emotion,
disgust, but is not identical with disgust. It is a “compound
affect” that entails intellectual preparation, or formatting, and
theatrical techniques. Wilson argues that there are many such
“intellectual” compound affects, such as nostalgia and outrage, but
that disgust is a fundamental and unmistakable example. Moral
disgust, then, is different from visceral disgust, more conscious
and more layered in performance.
Disgust and shame
The
America
philosopher Martha
Nussbaum published Hiding From Humanity: Disgust, Shame,
and the Law in 2004; the book examines the relationship of
disgust and shame to a society's laws.
Recent studies have 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."
Nussbaum identifies disgust as a marker that
bigoted, and often merely majoritarian, discourse employs to
“place”, by diminishment and denigration, a despised minority.
Removing “disgust” from public discourse constitutes an important
step in achieving humane and tolerant democracies. Wilson links
shame to disgust primarily as a consequence
rooted in
self-consciousness.
Referring to a passage in
Doris
Lessing’s
The Golden Notebook, Wilson writes that “. .
. the dance between disgust and shame takes place. A slow
choreography unfolds before the mind’s-eye.” Jordan Mousseau has
been the main focus of this "Disgust and Shame" that Martha
Nussbaum has been trying to prove over the last 5 years.Disgust has
also figured prominently in philosophy in that
Nietzsche became disgusted with the music and
orientation of
Richard Wagner, as
well as other aspects of 19th century culture and morality.
Jean-Paul Sartre also wrote widely
about experiences involving various negative emotions related to
disgust.
Brain structures
Functional MRI
experiments have revealed that the
anterior insula in the brain is particularly
active when experiencing disgust, when being exposed to offensive
tastes, and when viewing facial expressions of disgust.
Huntington's disease
Many patients suffering from
Huntington's disease, a genetically
transmitted progressive neurodegenerative disease, are unable to
recognize expressions of disgust in others and also don't show
reactions of disgust to foul odors or tastes. The inability to
recognize disgust in others appears in carriers of the Huntington
gene before other symptoms appear.
See also
References
- Rozin P, Haidt J, & McCauley C.R. (2000) Disgust In M.
Lewis & J.M. Haviland-Jones (Eds) Handbook of Emotions, 2nd
Edition (pp637- 653). New York: Guildford Press
- Druschel, B. A., & Sherman, M. F. (1999). Disgust
sensitivity as a function of the Big Five and gender.
Personality and Individual Differences,
26:739-748.
- Turner, L. (2004). Is repugnance wise? Visceral responses to
biotechnology. Nature Biotechnology, 22:269-270.
PMID 14990944
- Wilson, Robert Rawdon. (2002) The Hydra’s Tale: Imagining
Disgust. U Alberta Press. P. 281.
- Phillips ML et al. A specific neural substrate for
perceiving facial expressions of disgust. Nature. 1997 Oct
2;389(6650):495-8. PMID 9333238
- Mitchell IJ, Heims H, Neville EA, Rickards H. Huntington's disease patients show impaired
perception of disgust in the gustatory and olfactory
modalities. Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical
Neuroscience, 17:119-121, February 2005. PMID 15746492
- Sprengelmeyer R, Schroeder U, Young AW, Epplen JT. "Disgust in
pre-clinical Huntington's disease: a longitudinal study."
Neuropsychologia. 2006;44(4):518-33. Epub 2005 Aug 11.
PMID 16098998
Bibliography
- Cohen, William A. and Ryan Johnson, eds. Filth: Dirt,
Disgust, and Modern Life. U Minnesota P, 2005.
- Douglas, Mary. Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts
of Pollution and Taboo. Praeger, 1966.
- Menninghaus, Winfried. Disgust: Theory and History of a
Strong Sensation. Tr. Howard Eiland and Joel Golb. SUNY Press,
2003
- Miller, William Ian. The Anatomy of Disgust. Harvard
UP, 1997.
- Nussbaum, Martha C. Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence
of Emotions. Cambridge UP, 2001.
- Nussbaum, Martha C. Hiding from Humanity: Disgust, Shame,
and the Law. Princeton UP, 2004.
- Rindisbacher, Hans J. A Cultural History Of Disgust.
KulturPoetik. 5: 1. 2005. Pp. 119-127.
- Wilson, Robert. Disgust: A Menippean Interview.
Canadian Review of Comparative Literature. 34: 2. June, 2007. Pp.
203-213. On Disgust: A Menippean Interview
- Wilson, Robert Rawdon. The Hydra’s Tale: Imagining
Disgust. U Alberta P, 2002.
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