Theory Of Disgust Research Articles

A. 먼로, A. 프루의 단편에 나타난 혐오

By analyzing the two modern short stories—Alice Munro’s “Child’s Play” and Annie Proulx’s “Brokeback Mountain”—this paper aims to show that violent expression of disgust at home and in society is not an instinctive reaction, but something that is learned from the community. To make the case, this paper examines and cites Martha Nussbaum’s theory of disgust. Nussbaum delves into the feeling of ‘disgust’, arguing that emotion is not instinctive, but is the result of the action of thinking based on belief and understanding, and she categorizes the feeling of disgust into “primary disgust” and “projective disgust”. This study analyzes the process in “Child’s Play” whereby the protagonist unknowingly embodies disgust from the surrounding environment in childhood. Projective disgust is not only distinguishable from instinctive disgust, which is inherited genetically, but also works as a mechanism for solidarity and exclusion in groups. This paper also examines the ways in which disgust in “Brokeback Mountain” is transmitted and maintained through violence, preserves existing ideologies, and controls the life of the protagonist especially his fear of being an object of disgust.

Is it possible to overcome disgust? An ambivalent emotion

A growing interest for the emotion of disgust has recently arisen in international contexts acrossseveral fields of research. A general definition of disgust will be primarily assumed: by disgust I understand a total rejection that generates a motion of repulsion and removal of an object that is in the proximity of the subject, without constituting a real danger. In reference to the notion of taboo, I will first of all assume its ambivalence. The emotion of disgust, essentially natural and cultural at the same time, as a typical trait of the process of human civilization that distinguishes humans from animals. At variance with other theories of disgust, I will argue that it is not possible to theoretically articulate the overcoming of disgust, but that it is possible to educate about this emotion through artistic experience. On this ground, an ethics of disgust will be outlined, which starts from the acknowledgement of one of our most bodily emotions.

Alcohol and disgust: An intimate relationship

BackgroundAlcohol intoxication has been associated with increases in risk taking behavior and more ambiguously, alterations in emotional perception. In the first study of its kind, we examine how theories of disgust can be used to help explain these effects. MethodsUsing a single-blind procedure, participants (n = 73) were randomly allocated to an alcohol (Males: 0.68 g/kg; Females: 0.60 g/kg) or placebo condition and then completed a psychometric measure of disgust (TDDS). ResultsResults revealed a non-significant trend toward lower disgust sensitivity in the alcohol versus placebo condition. We did however find a significant negative correlation, whereby increases in breath alcohol level were associated with decreased pathogen disgust. ConclusionsThese findings demonstrate a relationship between breath alcohol level and disgust sensitivity which could help explain differences in risk associated behavior.

El asco: reflexiones estéticas sobre la violencia neoliberal en Centroamérica

This essay focuses on the writing of disgust as a central aesthetic project in contemporary Central American narrative. Taking Horacio Castellanos Moya's El asco as a point of departure, I argue that an “aesthetics of disgust” can be underlined both as a recurrent trope or theme and as an aesthetic affect in works by a diverse group of authors. The article undertakes a detailed analysis of two Guatemalan novels: Diccionario esotérico (2005) by Maurice Echeverría and El leproso (2007) by Méndez Vides. Working with several theories of disgust and the transmission of affect, I argue that disgust is written in these fictions as a central thematic point and as a means to evoke a visceral reaction in the reader and that it reflects a wide-ranging literary movement that transcends genres and generations as it reflects upon the neoliberal episteme in the region.

The Meaning of Disgust: A Refutation

Recently, McGinn (2011) has proposed a new theory of disgust. This theory makes empirical claims as to the history and function of disgust, yet does not take into account contemporary scientific research on the subject. This essay evaluates his theory for its merits as an account of disgust, and as a piece of scholarship more generally, and finds it lacking.

Comment: Kolnai’s Disgust

In The Meaning of Disgust (2011), Colin McGinn employs elements of the phenomenological theory of disgust advanced by Aurel Kolnai in 1929. Kolnai’s treatment of what he calls “material” disgust and of its primary elicitors—putrefying organic matter, bodily wastes and secretions, sticky contaminants, vermin—anticipates more recent scientific treatments of this emotion as a mode of protective recoil. While Nina Strohminger (2014) charges McGinn with neglecting such scientific studies, we here attempt to show how Kolnai goes beyond experimental findings in his careful description of the phenomenological differences between disgust and other emotions of forceful disapproval.

The effects of cleanliness and disgust on moral judgment

Recent experimental studies in cognitive science report the influence of “disgust” and “cleanliness” manipulations on moral judgment, yet little attention has been given to interpreting these studies together or developing models of the causal influence of cleanliness and disgust manipulations on moral judgment. I propose considerations for the causal modeling of these effects. The conclusions are not decisive in favor of one theory of disgust and cleanliness, but suggest several distinct causal roles of disgust- and cleanliness-type manipulations. The incorrect views, I argue, are those that posit causal effects from a single common cognitive mechanism for both disgust and cleanliness.

Why Darwinians Should Not Be Afraid of Mary Douglas—And Vice Versa

Evolutionary psychology and human sociobiology often reject the mere possibility of symbolic causality. Conversely, theories in which symbolic causality plays a central role tend to be both anti-nativist and anti-evolutionary. This article sketches how these apparent scientific rivals can be reconciled in the study of disgust. First, we argue that there are no good philosophical or evolutionary reasons to assume that symbolic causality is impossible. Then, we examine to what extent symbolic causality can be part of the theoretical toolbox of the evolutionary social sciences. This examination leads to the conclusion that it is possible to make evolutionary sense of Mary Douglas’s theory of disgust, and that her view of symbolic causality can and should inform evolutionary theories of (sociocultural) disgust.

Getting over yuck: moving from psychological to cultural and sociotechnical analyses of responses to water recycling

Discussion of public reactions to water recycling is now framed around the idea of a ‘yuck factor’: advocates tend to assume an emotional response is the primary determinant of people's attitudes to reuse and they despair of people accepting rational arguments on its merits. Academic and consultancy work in the area has been dominated by particular work from social psychology: theories of disgust, models of attitude causation, and psychometric methods for measuring attitudes and determining the influences on them. This paper questions the models, their assumptions, the methods used to apply and validate them, their implications for change, and the practical consequences of framing the problem this way. It suggests that more fruitful explanations and more effective public engagement both require a shift to a more sociological and cultural explanation, one that examines users’ practices around the sociotechnical systems of providing water and handling waste. The paper concludes there are no compelling arguments or evidence that negative reactions to recycled water cannot change with opportunities to learn about the issues; indeed deliberative consultation mechanisms are essential if people are to reach an informed, reasoned and robust evaluation of the option. The ‘yuck’ discourse is of limited value in explaining public responses and counterproductive in formulating strategies for increasing public support.

Disgust sensitivity and emotion regulation potentiate the effect of disgust propensity on spider fear, blood-injection-injury fear, and contamination fear

Research consistently reveals a relation between disgust and specific anxiety concerns, but research has only begun to investigate possible mechanisms by which this relation occurs. The current study tested whether disgust sensitivity (DS; a specific difficulty regulating disgust) and general emotion dysregulation (GED; non-emotion-specific regulation difficulties) moderated the relation between disgust propensity (DP) and spider fear, blood-injection-injury (BII) fear, and contamination fear. A total of 594 undergraduate students completed verbal-report measures of DP, DS, GED, negative affectivity, and spider, BII, and contamination fears. Results suggest that GED potentiates the ability of DP to predict spider and contamination fears, but not BII fears. DS potentiates the ability of DP to predict BII fears, but not spider or contamination fears. These data suggest that GED and DS are possible mechanisms that strengthen the influence of DP on spider, BII, and contamination fears. The present study demonstrates the utility of incorporating emotion regulation into the theory of disgust in certain anxiety disorders.

A Treatment Most Foul: Handling Disgust in Cognitive-Behavior Therapy

The nature of disgust as it relates to psychopathology is described. Evaluative conditioning, an important theory for understanding the acquisition and maintenance of disgust reactions, is discussed, and linked with the general theory of disgust by Rozin and Fallon (1987). The empirical literature on the role of disgust in psychopathology, primarily phobias and general problems of fearful avoidance, is covered, as well as cognitive biases and distortions. Finally, a hierarchy of psychopathology influenced by disgust is presented. Keywords: disgust; anxiety; avoidance; conditioning While disgust has been considered to be a basic emotion since the time of Darwin (1872/1965), it has only recently enjoyed increased attention in the empirical literature. A search of the Psychlnfo database yields 770 references for the key word "disgust," which stands in stark contrast to the 26,750 references found for "fear," another basic emotion. A search with the key word "happiness," an understudied basic emotion like disgust, still uncovered 4,108 references. Clearly, there is a dearth of literature examining disgust. However, since the publication of the seminal article by Rozin and Fallen (1987), which proposed a theoretical reconceptualization of disgust, research on disgust has seen a marked increase with approximately three-quarters of the empirical literature having been published since 1987. Despite this marked increase in attention, a myriad of questions concerning disgust remain unanswered. This article aims to briefly explain the fundamental theory of disgust as well as describe the possible role of evaluative conditioning in the acquisition and maintenance of the disgust response. We will also briefly describe the current status of treatment effects on disgust reactions, cognitive processing of disgust information, and accessibility of disgust related cognitions. Finally, we will propose a hierarchy of disorders that are influenced by the presence of disgust. THE EMOTION OF DISGUST: AN OVERVIEW As explained in their reconceptualization of disgust, Rozin and Fallen (1987) define "core disgust" as a food-related emotion of oral revulsion. This is consistent with the limited literature that existed prior to this publication that viewed disgust as an evolutionarily adaptive response to noxious oral stimuli (Angyal, 1941; Darwin, 1965/1875). However, Rozin and Fallon (1987) further proposed that disgust has contaminating properties that were governed by the laws of sympathetic magic. These laws are comprised of the law of contagion and the law of similarity. The law of contagion is well summarized in the pithy phrase "Once in contact, always in contact." According to this law, disgusting objects transfer their disgusting properties to nondisgusting objects through contact. These disgusting properties remain even after physical contact has ceased and are dose-insensitive (i.e., even brief contact is sufficient to transfer the full compliment of disgusting properties). second, the law of similarity states that objects that are physically similar to disgusting objects are deemed to be more disgusting. For example, Rozin, Millman, and Nemeroff (1986) noted that fudge would be more acceptable food if shaped like a muffin than if it were shaped like feces. Later work began to uncover other domains that are unrelated to concerns regarding oral incorporation, yet were characteristic of core disgust. Animal-nature disgust refers to any aspect of life that reminds humans of their animal nature. Such disgust elicitors are typically either hidden (i.e., defecation) or humanized (i.e., funerals) (Rozin, Haidt, & McCauley, 1999). The domain of interpersonal disgust is stimulated by contact with aspects of undesirable people. For example, Rozin, Haidt, McCauley, Dunlop, and Ashmore (1999) found that less than half of their sample of undergraduate students was willing to put the hat of a Nazi officer on their head. …

Varieties of disgust faces and the structure of disgust.

In 3 facial expression identification studies, college students matched a variety of disgust faces to verbally described eliciting situations. The faces depicted specific muscle action movements in accordance with P. Ekman and W. V. Friesen's (1978) Facial Action Coding System. The nose wrinkle is associated with either irritating or offensive smells and, to some extent, bad tastes. Gape and tongue extrusion are associated primarily with what we call core or food-offense disgust and also oral irritation. The broader range of disgust elicitors, including stimuli that remind humans of their animal origins (e.g., body boundary violations, inappropriate sex, poor hygiene, and death), a variety of aversive interpersonal contacts, and certain moral offenses are associated primarily with the raised upper lip. The results support a theory of disgust that posits its origin as a response to bad tastes and maps its evolution onto a moral emotion.