Disgusted
Feeling disgusted means being repelled by something or someone, with an urge to pull back, look away or spit it out. It starts with things like spoiled food and stretches to people who cross a moral line.
- On the wheel: Angry, then contemptuous, then disgusted
- Nearby: Scornful, contemptuous
- In the body: Throat and stomach, in a body-mapping study
- Often points to: Something that feels contaminating, physically or morally
Nose, lip, throat, stomach
The nose wrinkles. The upper lip lifts. Your stomach turns and your throat tightens, as if to stop something getting in, and you step back before you've decided to.
On the body maps described on the feelings wheel page, disgust sat mostly around the throat and stomach.1 That fits a feeling built around keeping things out of the body.
"I opened a container in the back of the fridge and gagged. Later I found out my roommate had been reading my mail, and the feeling was almost the same."
An immune system you can feel
Disgust looks like a reaction to bad smells, but a review by Curtis and colleagues describes it as an evolved system for avoiding infection, sometimes called the behavioral immune system.2 It responds to cues of disease: rot, waste, wounds, bugs, sick bodies.2
It can also be learned and shaped by culture.2 Through manners and rules about purity, groups extend it from germs to behavior, which is how it ends up aimed at people.2
Why a cheat leaves a bad taste
People say a cheat "leaves a bad taste in your mouth." The face agrees.
Bitter liquids, photos of filth and unfair offers in a money game all activated the same muscle region, the one that raises the upper lip in disgust, when Chapman and colleagues recorded it.3 The authors concluded that unfair treatment brings out the same disgust as disease and bad tastes.3
The sick feeling when someone treats you badly is the old reaction, pointed at a new kind of threat.
Disgusted, contemptuous or angry?
| Feeling | Sounds like | What it wants |
|---|---|---|
| Disgusted | "Get that away from me." | Distance from something that feels tainted |
| Contemptuous | "They're beneath me." | To look down on someone |
| Angry | "That's wrong, and it has to change." | To push back |
Disgust pulls away. Anger moves toward. Contempt looks down, and the contempt and angry pages take those two further.
Act or person?
- Check what it's protecting. If it's about safety, like spoiled food or an unclean space, the reaction is doing its job. Act on it.
- Name the line that was crossed. For moral disgust, write exactly what the person did. "He lied to my face about the money" is clearer than "he's gross."
- Watch for spread. Disgust can stretch from what someone did to who they are. Ask whether the feeling is about an act or a whole person.
- Notice when it's aimed at a group. Rules about purity have long been used to set groups of people apart.2 If yours lands on a type of person and not on something anyone did, give it a second look.
- Get some distance. Disgust's job is to create distance, so a short break from the person or place often lets the feeling settle.
What crossed a line for you? Write exactly what happened, then whether the feeling is about the act or the whole person.
Answer this with JoyQuestions people ask about feeling disgusted
Why do I feel disgusted by people?
People trigger it two ways: cues of illness or poor hygiene, and behavior that crosses a moral line, like cheating or cruelty.3 Unfair offers in a money game moved the same lip-raising muscle region as a bad taste, which may be why the moral kind can feel so physical.3
Is disgust the same as contempt?
They're close neighbors, which is why Joyful's wheel files disgusted under contemptuous. Disgust wants distance from something that feels contaminating; contempt ranks someone below you.
Related
- Contempt: when anger turns into looking down.
- Angry: the whole anger family.
- Resentment: anger about unfair treatment that stays.