Psychology Disgust feelings are vital

Psychology: Disgust feelings are vital for humanity

01/05/2012

Big, hairy spiders, rotten foods - many people react with disgust. The reason for this could be a protective mechanism of the body against threats, such as poisoning. At the University of Bielefeld, psychologists, philosophers and anthropologists are discussing the question of the purpose of disgust and how it has changed over the years.

Disgusting provides protection against threats
Jason Clark, cognitive scientist from Osnabrück, explains why humankind has a lot to thank for disgust: „In the course of evolution, humans have developed a tendency to protect themselves against recurring threats from the environment with certain emotional reactions. And that's the way it is disgusting.“ Clark, who is the meeting „The evolution of disgust - from oral to moral“ at the University of Bielefeld, discuss until Saturday with psychologists, philosophers and anthropologists about the function of disgust and its development.

Disgust as a base emotion and as a culturally conveyed feeling
The basic emotion is defined as feelings that people of all cultures know, such as disgust for spiders or worms. These emotions warn the body of possible threats and thus have a vital function for humans. In addition, there is also the culturally transmitted disgust. Clark explains: „The disgust of spiders is an example of a basic emotion, whereas the disgust for so-called "social junkies" is, for example, a culturally mediated form of disgust.“

The cognitive scientist reports that even the function of disgust in moral judgments often has an evolutionary benefit. „In the sexual context, disgust plays a big role, for example in relation to incest“. Clark continues: „In the moral judgment of sexual intercourse between relatives, the evolutionary benefit plays an important role.“

Disgust as a research area
Scientists from various fields have only recently devoted themselves to disgust. In her opinion, Ekel plays an important role in many areas. These include, for example, social policy and morality as well as psychopathology. (Ag)

Picture: sassi