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Cited by 1,120Psychology of Moral and Emotional JudgmentEmotions and Moral BehaviorEvolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior

Disgust as a disease-avoidance mechanism.

Oaten, Megan, Stevenson, Richard J., Case, Trevor I.·2009·Psychological Bulletin
DOI 10.1037/a0014823
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Abstract

Many researchers have claimed that the emotion of disgust functions to protect us from disease. Although there have been several discussions of this hypothesis, none have yet reviewed the evidence in its entirety. The authors derive 14 hypotheses from a disease-avoidance account and evaluate the evidence for each, drawing upon research on pathogen avoidance in animals and empirical research on disgust. In all but 1 case, the evidence favors a disease-avoidance account. It is suggested that disgust is evoked by objects/people that possess particular types of prepared features that connote disease. Such simple disgust are directly disease related, are acquired during childhood, and are able to contaminate other objects/people. The complex disgust, which emerge later in development, may be mediated by several emotions. In these cases, violations of societal norms that may subserve a disease-avoidance function, notably relating to food and sex, act as reminders of simple disgust elicitors and thus generate disgust and motivate compliance. The authors find strong support for a disease-avoidance account and suggest that it offers a way to bridge the divide between concrete and ideational accounts of disgust.

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Crossref · 10.1037/a0014823

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15 of 15 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • Gladden et al. suggested their findings were consistent with the fact that pathogen-stress and collectivism were positively related.

    “Gladden et al. suggested their findings were consistent with the fact that pathogen-stress and collectivism were positively related (Fincher et al. 2008), presumably because much of moral intuitions taps into cognition about pathogens (Oaten et al. 2009).”

    From Parasite-stress promotes in-group assortative sociality: The cases of strong family ties and heightened religiosity (2012) · cites this paper as Oaten et al. 2009

  • When the Inbar et al. study is combined with the general literature on the functional design of disgust for pathogen avoidance, the hypothesis that disgust will be greater in conservatives (collectivists) than in liberals (individualists) remains viable.

    “When the Inbar et al. study is combined with the general literature on the functional design of disgust for pathogen avoidance (Curtis et al. 2011; Oaten et al. 2009), the hypothesis that disgust will be greater in conservatives (collectivists) than in liberals (individualists) remains viable.”

    From Parasite-stress promotes in-group assortative sociality: The cases of strong family ties and heightened religiosity (2012) · cites this paper as Oaten et al. 2009

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Authors
Oaten, M., Stevenson, R. J., & Case, T. I.
Affiliations
Macquarie University (AU)
ORCID
Venue
Psychological Bulletin
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
2009
Volume
135
Issue
2
Pages
303-321
ISSN
  • 0033-2909 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-1455
DOI
10.1037/a0014823
OpenAlex
W1965048186
Cited by
1,120
References
15
Citations by year
2026: 39 · 2025: 53 · 2024: 102 · 2023: 92 · 2022: 90 · 2021: 97 · 2020: 80 · 2019: 97 · 2018: 83 · 2017: 61 · 2016: 45 · 2015: 47 · 2014: 76 · 2013: 50 · 2012: 47
FWCI
17.07
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Psychological Bulletin (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Griffith Research Online (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Emotions and Moral Behavior
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
Keywords
disgust, disease avoidance, pathogen avoidance, social norms, rule compliance
MeSH terms
Animals, Avoidance Learning, Communicable Diseases, Conflict, Psychological, Cues, Emotions, Foodborne Diseases, Humans, Morals, Motivation, Prejudice, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Smell, Social Values, Touch, Health Behavior

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