Disgust reading

Question 1

What is the brain region most often activated in studies of disgust? What is the link to gustatory processing?

Answer 1

The primary brain region activated in feelings of disgust is the anterior insula (the gustatory cortex in primates)

Question 2

What do the authors say about how much and why people have feelings of disgust for slugs, cockroaches, carnivorous land animals, herbivores, and animals that are close to humans (primates and pets)? What about spiders and snakes?

Answer 2

slugs are disgusting because they resemble mucous; cockroaches are disgusting because they are frequently in contact with rotting animal flesh or feces; carnivorous animals often eat raw or rotting meat; herbivores are widely seen as less disgusting; primates and pets are close to humans (in appearance and virtue of relationship). Spiders produce fear because and snakes disgust because of fear

Question 3

The authors identify the prototypical odor of disgust. What is it, and how does it relate to death?

Answer 3

The prototypical odour of disgust is the odour of decay which is associated with death

Question 4

The authors talk about research that shows that people who imagine their own death later show an increase in disgust sensitivity. In turn, other research shows that exposure to disgusting stimuli may increase implicit death-related ideation. You should be familiar with these points.

Answer 4

These studies indicate that anything that reminds us that we are animals elicits disgust

Question 5

What do comparisons across languages indicate about a semantic domain covering concerns about the body as well as concerns about other people’s social behaviour?

Answer 5

Semantic comparisons indicate that people of diverse cultures feel some similarity in their emotional reactions to feces and sleazy politicians

Question 6

Table 47.1

Answer 6

Table 47.1

Question 7

You should be familiar with the point that there do not appear to be any innately negative nonirritant odors, and that rejection of decay odors appears in the 3-7 years age range.

Answer 7

There are no innately negative nonirritant odours, and rejection of decay odours appears between 3-7 years old

Question 8

You should be familiar with the point regarding fermented/decayed food and cultures.

Answer 8

Most cultures value some kind of decaying/fermenting food (ex. cheese for Europeans, decayed meat for Inuit, and fermented fish sauce in south east asians)

Question 9

At which steps of disgust are there greater cultural differences?

Answer 9

Greater cultural differences are in the interpersonal and moral disgust

Question 10

You should be familiar with gender differences, age differences, and links to education and socioeconomic status.

Answer 10

Gender differences: women score higher than men in disgust scales
Age differences: sensitivity declines with age in adulthood and declines faster for women then men
Education: Disgust sensitivity is inversely related to education and socioeconomic status

Question 11

What are the 3 interconnected brain areas that are usually activated with disgust?

Answer 11

anterior insula, basal ganglia and prefrontal cortex

Question 12

Much of this section concerns 7 kinds of evidence that actually or could link disgust to phobias and OCD. You should be familiar with 4 of these points.

Answer 12

1) a common form of OCD involves cleaning/fear of contamination
2) Correlation between OCD and disgust sensitivity
3) Recognition of disgust is enhanced or reduced in OCD
4) Demonstration of disgust is enhanced or reduced in OCD
5) Similar psychophysiology between disgust and OCD
6) Disgust stimuli activate or inhibit brain areas associated with OCD
7) Disgust increases phobias which increases OCD