a huge deal, but scientists say the disgusted expression – the curled
upper lip, accompanied by wrinkled nose and brows – acts as a
warning sign to other members of the species to avoid a gross
thing. Which probably explains why it’s a human universal
- even blind people make that face.
On the whole, women report feeling disgusted more often than
men, and pregnant women are the most easily disgusted people
of all. You can blame their increased levels of progesterone for that;
the hormone is associated with superhuman smelling powers.
Scientists reckon this helps to protect a mum-to-be from threats
to her foetus. So, if you’re not sure whether your yoghurt is still
OK to gobble down, stick it under a pregnant woman’s nose
- she’s the best person to say whether or not it’s going to
make you vom.
If you, too, suspect you have pregnant lady levels of detecting
mould (or just generally feel ill at the sight of crusted toenails
and the like), you have what scientists call ‘high disgust sensitivity’,
which means you’re also more likely to be freaked out by risk.
While your ‘low disgust sensitivity’ comrades will happily go
sky-diving or whitewater rafting, for example, you’ll (probably)
assess the potential threat to your life and sit these activities out,
preferring to eat a germ-free square of chocolate fudge and play
UNO on a grassy knoll. The same is true of financial risk (easily
repulsed pals will opt out; not-so-repulsed folks will opt in), and
social risk. Consider that person who voices an unpopular opinion
or speaks to their higher-ups at work about a controversial topic.
Well, that person is less likely to feel their stomach turn at the
sight of pus. Now you know.
But do you ever find yourself curious to look at a pustule, even
though you find it intensely sickening? That doesn’t make you
an oddball. On the contrary, it makes you normal. It’s human
to feel strangely attracted to whatever disgusts you, which is
why we can find ourselves watching gory movies or entranced
by gross photos online. Not only is this a safe way to experience
disgust, it’s also a form of psychological arousal. A bit like riding
a rollercoaster. This arousal triggers the reward centre of the
noggin – and some neuroscientists are even inclined to believe
the arousal we feel from disgust is more powerful than the
arousal we feel from something desirable.
Yep, it’s all a bit mind-bending. But then, this whole business
of disgust is. Take cheese. The stinky kind. Your blue cheeses,
riddled with fuzzy bacteria that, according to the rules of
pathogen disgust, should makes us all reach for the nearest
bucket. Some of us adore said cheese, while others abhor it.
To find out what makes certain folks lust after mould-ridden
dairy products, researchers at the University of Lyon in France
used MRI imaging to look at the brains of cheese lovers and
cheese haters, after sniffing and viewing different forms of
fromage. Scan after scan yielded no neurological data – the
researchers were stumped.
Psychologist Paul Rozin (also known as Dr. Disgust on
account of the fact he’s spent a lifetime researching disgust- not because he bathes in his own urine) suggests the reason
behind the varying reactions to gorgonzola are to do with
negative experiences. That, or because we experience different
sensory chemistry. The butyric and isovaleric acid in parmesan
can smell like vomit, for example, yet so many of us grate
it over our bolognese. So, feel free to point that out the next
time you go to an Italian restaurant with your mates. If they
tell you you’ve spoiled their time by doing so, inform them
that easily disgusted people tend to be ultra right-wing.
You won’t necessarily make any friends at the table, but
it might mean you get extra cheese.
learn something new