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How does your body react to Disgust?

Disgust, an instinctive emotion, is a strong dislike to disapproval triggered by a feeling that something is toxic. 

The feeling of disgust, one of the seven core emotions, has been hard wired into your brain as an evolutionary survival mechanism. Disgust arises to warn you that something is toxic, that it should be expelled from your body for survival. In prehistoric times, this would be something, like a poison that is toxic to your body. 

The emotion disgust, activated by physical (smell, taste, touch) or mental (socio-moral) cues, regulates risk from pathogens, sexual or moral behaviour and causes a body reaction of nausea, gagging, a bad taste your mouth, vomiting or physically recoiling or running away from the object of disgust.   

Darwin identified disgust and it is thought to be one of the first instinctive emotions to evolve in humans (other instinctive emotions would include anger, fear, surprise, joy, desire). In 2009, Tybur et al., as outlined in Wikipedia, further defined the emotion disgust into three types: 

‘Pathogen disgust, a form of ‘behavioral immune system’ that motivates the avoidance of infectious or poisonous substances. 

Sexual disgust arises in order to avoid ‘biologically costly mates’ through genetic compatibility (incest taboo) or quality (attractiveness etc.). 

Moral or Socio-moral disgust “pertains to social transgressions’ which triggers you to avoid social relationships with norm-violating individuals, such as liars, thieves, murderers and rapists, as such relationships threaten social cohesion.  

 

Disgust is instinctive but activates a different part of your brain. 

Unlike other instinctive emotions that are activated in the amygdala, disgust involves the insular cortex and anterior insula sections of your brain. The anterior insula is the centre of the brain where taste and smell are processed, important factors in stimulating the feeling and physiological reaction to disgust (gagging, nausea, vomiting). The insula is activated by tastes, smells, visual recognition of disgust or possibly non-physical visions of disgust. In certain cases, your brain detects the ‘toxin’ and triggers a reaction of nausea in your stomach. For example, drunkenness is a physical situation. Alcohol is toxic to the brain therefore it activates the mechanism to throw it out of the body by vomiting. 

 

Disgust can cause you to vomit or just gag 

The vomit, nausea or gagging reaction to the feeling of disgust is an evolutionary reaction to ‘pathogen disgust’ (outlined by Tybur et al, 2009), a reaction to something deadly, like rotting food or feces initiated by smelling, seeing or tasting. Detecting something poisonous, therefore a threat to your health, your body sets of a reaction to expel it immediately. This is what causes the vomit reaction. Chemicals and hormones are detected by the brain’s chemoreceptor trigger zone, which has various hormone receptors or the vagus nerve (cranial nerve X which detects an upset stomach is activated). An involuntary chain reaction follows. 

1.    You take a deep breath to protect your lungs, your diaphragm contracts squeezing the stomach. Your glottis closes, sealing off the airways so that nothing gets in your lungs. 

2.    Your stomach muscles contract. The sphincter muscle at the bottom of your stomach closes so that the only way is up through your esophagus. 

3.    The contents of your stomach are expelled up through your mouth. In some cases, the first two stages occur, causing a gagging reaction without anything leaving your stomach. 

4.    Your heart rate goes up and your whole body sweats in order to lose the heat created by the sudden activity. 

 

Love overcomes your body reaction to disgust 

Normally the sight and smell of feces or other foul bodily odours sets off instinctive disgust and yet a parent can easily change nappies or a child look after a sick parent. Generally, your disgust sensitivity and associated bodily reactions such as vomiting or gagging is overcome when the object of disgust is someone close to you. Oxytocin, known as the ‘love bonding’ hormone plays a role in overcoming disgust, but only in the ‘in-group’. In his 2018 study, Robert Sapolsky, citing the De Dreu 2011 and 2012 studies, discovered that oxytocin can enhance aggression or disgust for ‘out group’ members, as in people that are unknown to you. Just as with all instinctive emotions, some feel more strongly than others and overcoming a disgust sensitivity is a very individual process, as is a definition of an ‘out group’. Healthcare professionals believe that expressing disgust sensitivity towards patients is unprofessional and have developed coping mechanisms for the love of their job. 

 

Socio-Moral Disgust can cause a reaction in your body 

Disgust today is much more complex than it was for early human kind. Darwin is thought to be the first to have identified the emotion of disgust over a century ago and more recently researchers have started to look at the socio-moral angle of disgust (Curtis & Biran, 2001). Generally, socio-moral disgust starts in the mind but it instigates changes in your body, either avoiding or recoiling from the object of disgust or even a feeling of being sick in your stomach. Socio-moral disgust can vary across cultures, particularly in regard to foods or cultural habits. Ignoring your feeling of disgust can lead to body pain issues over time. 

 

When sexually aroused, your body has less disgust sensitivity

Scientific studies have found, that when sexually aroused, women and men have less propensity to be disgusted (Borg & de Jong  2012). The sexual act itself has potential triggers for instinctive disgust such as body odours, a risk to damage to mucous membranes, and these tend to be overcome by the emotion of desire. 

 

Women have a greater propensity for disgust, revealed by scientific research

Disgust has evolved as a risk regulator, a way of avoiding the wrong mating strategy such as incest or the risk of disease from external toxins. Generally, women have a greater propensity for disgust than men (Adam Sparks et al, 2018, Emotion). A possible interpretation of this scientific finding, is that in the case of sexual disgust, women’s bodies can be more vulnerable to infection. In the same study, it is revealed that this sex difference is a particular feature of the mind more than the body. Another scientific study has found that when disgusted, women find it more difficult to reach sexual arousal (Marianna Mazza et 2015).

 

Your instinctive feeling of disgust changes as you age 

Children are not as disgusted by certain things as adults, for example even playing with dog excrement. As you age, your body, learned social norms, and thinking develops and so does your taste and what you perceive to be disgusting. Teenagers have a much higher tolerance for things that adults find disgusting, such as dirty clothes or unwashed plates. Cultural norms change over time and education changes some instinctive disgust thus averting the negative implications of disgust such as excluding or persecuting others. 

Instinctive emotions are like the weather, beyond your conscious control. For a balanced life, the first step is to understand human instinctive emotions, how they work and practical steps to take in order to avoid situations that are destructive to emotional wellbeing. Not every instinctive emotion that is acted on has positive consequences. Sometimes, it may be best to take shelter from the storm. Disgust is an instinctive emotion, originally evolved for physical survival. Today, socio-moral disgust is a key element of the emotion, a trigger in your body, mind and soul for action. 

Disgust is a strong dislike to disapproval triggered by a feeling that something is toxic.

The emotion disgust, activated by physical (smell, taste, touch) or mental (socio-moral) cues, regulates risk from pathogens, sexual or moral behaviour and causes a body reaction of nausea, gagging, a bad taste your mouth, vomiting or physically recoiling or running away from the object of disgust.

For more information about Disgust you might be interested in these other articles:

What is Disgust? Understanding Disgust / Disgust Explained?

How does your body react to Disgust?

How does your mind react to Disgust?

How does your soul react to Disgust?

What hormones are connected to Disgust?