Charles Darwin stated that disgust is primarily related to an intense, perhaps instinctual, revulsion to stimuli that are offensive to the senses. Aurel Kolnai speaks of disgust in terms of ‘intentionality’, or the idea that disgust is directed toward an offensive object and its proximity to the subject.
Disgust has been identified as one of the basic emotions, recognizable across diverse cultures. Culture, in turn, largely shapes what an individual or society deems to be “disgusting.”
Disgust can be separated into three different domains, each having a distinct adaptive function:
*protecting the individual from possible infection or the consumption of food that may cause harm (pathogen disgust);
*assessing potential mates and avoiding sexually transmitted infection, thereby maximizing reproductive success (sexual disgust) and
*punishment and avoidance of social transgressors, e.g., cheating (moral disgust).
Disgust is becoming increasingly recognized as an influential emotion in the onset, maintenance, and treatment of various phobic states, Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder, and eating disorders.
Disgust is associated with appraisals of moral transgressions and that this emotion influences moral judgments implies a remarkable puzzle.
The recruitment of disgust in the process of moralization of certain attitudes, products, and/or social entities may then lead to avoidance and marginalization.
Feeling of disgust
