Hatred and Disgust
Dr. Green
Appetites
Agreeableness
Disgust
Natural Appetite
attuned and adapted to
that which is suitable to
it
dissonance from that
which opposes and
destroys it
Sensible Appetite
harmony of the appetite
with that which is
apprehended as suitable
dissonance of the
appetite from that which
is apprehended as
repugnant and hurtful
Rational Appetite
harmony of the appetite
with that which is
apprehended as suitable
dissonance of the
appetite from that which
is apprehended as
repugnant and hurtful
Agreeableness and Disgust
• Maintain boundaries and protect basic
identities
• Separate the pure and clean from the
contaminated and unclean
• Governed by magical thinking (cooties)
– Contact can clean or contaminate
Core Disgust
• Ingestion—taking in something orally
• That which is taken in is an offensive
substance
• That substance is offensive because it is
contaminated, e.g. has been touch by or near
to human waste, a worm, cockroaches, etc.
• (Rozin and Fallon)
Taste vs Texture
• Studies have found that texture is more
important than taste
• Slimy, gooey, mushy and gelatinous foods
were the most disgusting. (Most like rotten
infectious flesh?)
Types of Disgust
• Biological disgust maintains biological
boundaries
• Social disgust maintains social boundaries
• Cultural disgust maintains ideological and
moral boundaries
Biological Disgust
Animal Nature Disgust
• Natural Reactions
– Nausea and vomiting
– Gag reflex
• Natural objects
– Rotten food (disgust=bad taste)
– Bodily products, such as feces, urine, vomit, pus,
blood, nasal discharge, semen, etc.
– Death and the violation of body (gore)
– The odor of decay or feces
Biological Disgust
• The immune system distinguishes like from
unlike
• Disgust part of the immune continuum
– Disgust prevents infectious agent from getting into
the body
– Vomiting removes it from the body before it can
penetrate the bodily envelope
– Immune system destroys infectious threats that
have penetrated the body boundary
Serotonin – A link between disgust and immunity? Medical Hypotheses, Volume 68, Issue 1, Pages 61-66
M. Rubio-Godoy, R. Aunger, V. Curtis
Animals and Disgust
• Disgust toward what reminds us of our animal
nature
• Cannibalism converts humans into food.
Disgust and Sex
• Inappropriate sexual activities
– Between people and animals
– Between people of different ages
– Between people of the same sex
– Between living and dead people
– Performed in inappropriate ways
• Masturbation
• Oral sex
• Anal sex
Disgust and Death
• Disgust from touching a corpse or dead animal
• The Greek Miasma (pollution) arose from
contact with the dead
Social Disgust
• “We are clean. They are dirty.”
– Maintains boundaries in the family (incest taboo)
– Maintains class boundaries
– Maintains racial boundaries
– Maintains national boundaries
• They
– Eat disgusting food
– Live in disgusting ways
– Do disgusting things
Group Identity
• Shared notions of disgust for the basis for
distinguishing like from unlike and maintaining
group identity
The Bacchae
• Pentheus attributed disgusting behavior to the
Bacchants
– Drunken orgies
Cultural Disgust
• Maintain moral boundaries
– Abortion images
– Homosexuality
• Research by David Pizarro, professor at Cornell
University indicates that conservatives tend to
be more disgust sensitive.
Preludes to a Conversion Experience
• Martin Luther’s mystical dump
• Jonathan Edwards and the urinating dog
• Expelling impurity from the self
Religion and Disgust
• The object of “religion” is The Sacred
– The Sacred is pure and spiritual
– Desecrating the pure is disgusting
– Impurity of the body contaminates the spirit
• Food and drink taboos
• Touch taboos
• Sexual taboos
– The body reminds us that we are animals that eat,
excrete, and have sex.
Boundaries
• Menstrual Odors, Dirty Diapers, and the Male
Dominated Religious Quest For Purity:
Giving Birth to Misogyny, Ethnic, and Racial
Discriminations Originating in the Human
Biological Emotion of Disgust.
by
William A. Spriggs
http://www.evoyage.com/BillsEssays/Mens
trualOdors&Religion.htm