Another example is vegetarianism; in a recent study published in Psychological Science Rozin and two colleagues found that moral vegetarians--those who gave up the consumption of animal products for ethical reasons--find meat more disgusting than do vegetarians who shun meat for health reasons, even though both groups report liking the taste and smell of meat equally.
HOMO DISGUSTUS
In the millennia since mankind domesticated itself, disgust has grown from a reflexive avoidance of unpleasant tastes into something much deeper. It has become an emotion as abstract and complicated as love and as uniquely human as guilt. We are socialized by our disgust and, in turn, use it to socialize others; what better way is there to stop people from doing something socially undesirable than to "make" that something--whether eating rancid meat or, in India, defying the caste system--disgusting.
In fact, this dual life makes disgust perhaps the most paradoxical of emotions. As disgust pioneer Andras Angyal argued, our ability to be disgusted reminds us that our emotional lives remain deeply influenced by "primitive, archaic meanings." "But," adds his heir Rozin, "it is also of course a great sign of civilization."
However much it marks our humanity, our capacity for disgust signals our continuing denial of the animal interiors we carry within our human hulls. The drunken banker on the plane caused a scandal not because he had been a nuisance or even because he had threatened his fellow passengers with illness. He caused a scandal because he, a supposed paragon of man's advanced state, had acted like an animal. And lurking within the recognition of our animal selves is the realization that, like the cattle we consume and lord over, some day soon we will all die.
And that's worse than just gross. It's downright terrifying.
How Much Can You STOMACH?
Some of us are grossed out at the sight of a rat, while others cheerfully enjoy a midnight showing of Night of the Living Dead. Where do you stand? To find out, take the disgust test below, an abbreviated version of a scale developed by psychologists Jonathan Haidt, Paul Rozin, and Clark McCauley. (For the full version of the test: http://wsrv.clas.virginia.edu/~jdh6n/publications.)
Circle T (true) or F (false):
T F 1. It bothers me to see someone in a restaurant eating messy food with his fingers.
T F 2. It would not upset me at all to watch a person with a glass eye take the eye out of the socket.
T F 3. I never let any part of my body touch the toilet seat in public restrooms.
T F 4. It would bother me to see a rat run across my path.
T F 5. I think it is immoral to seek sexual pleasure from animals.
T F 6. If I see someone vomit, it make me sick to my stomach.
T F 7. I might be willing to try eating monkey meat, under some circumstances.
T F 8. It would bother me to see a human hand preserved in a jar.
T F 9. It would bother me tremendously to touch a dead body.
T F 10.I probably would not go to my favorite restaurant if I found out that the cook had a cold.
T F 11. It bothers me to hear someone clear a mucuousy-throat.
T F 12. It would bother me to sleeping a nice hotel room if I knew that a man had died of a heart attack in that room the night before.
SCORING: Count the number of Fs you circled on questions 2 and 7 and the number of Ts circled elsewhere. The average score for U.S. males is five; for females, seven. A higher score means you're more sensitive than average to disgust.
Hey, It's the Best Part
You've surely heard the story of the important diplomatic dinner in a faraway land that culminates in the Western guest of honor being treated to the country's culinary piece de resistance. As the banquet hall goes quiet and all eyes go toward the head table, some impossibly repulsive dish--a bowl camels' eyes, or a baked Airedale terrier--is dramatically placed in front of the visitor who smiles limply, takes a deep breath, and prepares to chow down.
Two things make this tale a classic. The first is that many of us would risk causing an international incident rather than eat something that is in reality perfectly harmless. The second is how powerfully the smoking Airedale prejudices our impression of the hosts; by relishing something we consider gross, an otherwise well-regarded culture can be instantly relegated to barbarian status. What, we ask is wrong with these people? But a better question to ask might be: what is wrong with us?
Most cultures consume only a small subset of potential foods. But we North Americans are almost pathologically narrow in our tastes. For example, we almost totally avoid insects and reptiles, shy away from invertebrates, and, with the exception of a handful of herbivores like chickens and cows, pass on virtually all of our bird and mammal friends. And of these few unlucky finalists, we tend to either eat only a few "choice" parts or disguise the spurned bits in the form of, among other things, hot dogs and Spam.
Tags:
airplane,
beverage cart,
committing suicide,
criminal complaint,
fellow passengers,
flight attendant,
gerard finneran,
indiscretion,
international flight,
investment banker,
likelihood,
linen napkins,
lobster,
newspaper editors,
rampage,
roach,
surprising reasons,
tabloid,
toilet paper
