Disgust is a negative human emotion. Synonyms - hostility, contempt, antipathy, disgust, hatred. Antonyms are sympathy, admiration, attraction, and even in some cases the word Love is applicable. This article is about disgust. How did disgust come about? What and for what reason can cause such an emotion in people?
Psychologically
In psychology, emotions are divided into seven types. And one of them is disgust. This emotion is akin to contempt, a negative perception of something or someone that does not correspond to one's own internal concepts of acceptable. It is generally accepted that a person cannot feel disgust for the animate, that is, for people, animals. The emergence of this feeling is possible only for objects, taste sensations, smells, state. Sometimes insects, some types of amphibians or reptiles can cause disgust.
The statement is not always true. Yes, some people shudder at the sight of snakes, spiders or mice. It is disgusting for them to think about the proximity of these creatures to them. Even one thought oftouching an animal or insect causes not just rejection, but horror. Fear and disgust often go hand in hand, occurring at the same time, or one provokes the other. A similar feeling sometimes arises in relation to other people. More often it is called hostility or contempt. But the emotion of disgust that arose towards people is not uncommon. This happens when someone you know has done something really bad. “How disgusting! How could he/she do this?! That will be the reaction of his environment.
Another interpretation of disgust in psychology. This is the continuation of any action after receiving satisfaction. And often it's not just about sex. Although such a comparison would also work. For example, work in progress. Having received satisfaction from the work done, having come to a good result, the same actions performed again and again will begin to cause at first a slight dislike for work, and then disgust. In order to prevent this from happening, the business by which people earn a living must be loved and devoted to it. Although this happens infrequently, and therefore daily work becomes a routine for most and does not bring joy.
From an anatomical point of view
Here the feeling of disgust plays, one might say, a protective role. A person is more likely to try to leave a place where it smells bad, will not eat spoiled or unusual food, and will involuntarily close his eyes when watching scenes of violence. The body does not want to expose itself to stress, at the subconscious level, choosing protection in the form of rejection.
Disgustis a barrier with which people protect themselves, their physical and mental state from things, actions or feelings that have a negative impact on them. Such emotions can be caused by the corpses of dead people or animals, excrement, fecal matter, etc. Moreover, the feeling that arises is so strong that a person may have a gag urge or even vomit from what they see. The reasons for disgust in these cases lie somewhere deep, at the level of instincts, associated with illness or danger to life.
Acceptable for some, not acceptable for others
Here common expressions will do: “There is no arguing about tastes” or “There are no comrades for taste and color”. What causes negativity in someone is quite acceptable for another category of people. Often this is about food or smells. For example, a Chinese dish of monkey brains will lead a resident of central Russia into indescribable horror and disgust.
The same feeling is evoked by the mention that Koreans eat dogs, the French eat frogs, rat meat is popular in Vietnam, but not those that run around the city garbage dumps, but those that live in the field and eat grain crops and snails. But no arguments will help our man not to feel disgust for such culinary addictions.
Unpleasant odors
The same can be said about smells. Especially in the case of children. Some foods, smells disgust them for various reasons. Goat milk is very beneficial for a growing body. But children often refuse to drink it and eat it.from it cheese because of an unpleasant smell. Babies may not like some fruits and vegetables, mushrooms, meat, dairy products. If a child is forced to use these products because of their usefulness, then this will cause nothing but disgust in the baby. Sometimes the rejection is so strong that the child experiences nausea and even vomits. Over time, more precisely as they grow older, preferences may change - with age, disgust and rejection of these products will disappear.
Moral aspect
With the help of such an emotion as disgust, a person defines for himself the boundaries of what is forbidden. What is contrary to human nature, causes this feeling - this, of course, is taboo. This list may include the following:
- murder;
- violence;
- stealing;
- lewd unleashed behavior;
- swearing.
All those who violate the public peace, threaten the normal way of life, suffer from perverted addictions, cause most people not just dislike, anger or contempt, these feelings develop into disgust.
American scientists conducted a study, as a result of which interesting facts were revealed. Some words can be disgusting. For example, those that are associated with the physiological processes of the human body, denote actions or results. Women have also been found to be more prone to experiencing this feeling. The younger and more educated the respondents were, the stronger negativeemotions.
And yet disgust for the person
No matter what psychologists say, people are disgusted by their own kind. And this happens for various reasons. Various forums are full of messages like: "I feel disgust for my sister, wife, (brother, husband, matchmaker, parents, etc.) ….". The following are the reasons why this happens. Man is introspective. Aversion to one's own kind is a negative and wrong emotion, so to speak. Therefore, people are trying to find the true roots of this attitude towards others.
The protagonist of the popular series "Lie to Me" Dr. Cal Lightman in the next episode explains to the audience: "If you saw disgust on the face of your wife, consider that your marriage has come to an end." And it's hard to argue with that. Such relationships between a man and a woman do not have a solid foundation built on love, mutual understanding and respect. It happens that disgust for a partner provokes fear. A person is afraid of being beaten, insulted in public, cursed. Gradually, this fear develops into disgust, unwillingness to be near a person, the need to distance himself from him. Well, if such a marriage ends in divorce. Worse if the current situation finds a more aggressive resolution.
Reason for aversion to a person
Sometimes rejection of a person occurs at a subconscious level. The reason may be:
- outgoing bad smell from the body or from the mouth during close conversation;
- untidy, dirty or torn clothes;
- a person's behavior or manner of speaking.
It sometimes happens that some physical handicap or injury can cause negative emotions. Some people are disgusted by citizens of a different skin color.
Emotion as a way to fight bad habits
Modern society suffers from many addictions - smoking, alcohol, drugs, gambling. These misfortunes include gluttony and cravings for sweets, leading to he alth problems. Therefore, people who want to get rid of a habit are sometimes interested in how to create disgust for something. Such methods are built on the rejection of harmful substances by the body. Severe intoxication after drinking alcohol will make you forget about your addiction for a long time, and sometimes forever.
Techniques for getting rid of smoking or alcoholism include instilling aversion to the subject of consumption. In order to enhance the effect, experts sometimes resort to medications. For example, in the treatment of alcoholism. You can instill an aversion to smoking with the help of hypnosis. Having a strong will and desire to get rid of a bad habit, a person is able to inspire himself with dislike for anything.
Small conclusion
Now you know what disgust is. We have looked at it from different points of view. We also wrote about why this feeling can arise. In addition, in some cases it will be useful to cause disgust for something, for example,to alcohol in order to help a person overcome a bad habit, otherwise it will simply destroy him.
