What things are universally disgusting?
Researchers Paul Rozin and April Fallon have proposed a three-criteria test for “core disgust” – i.e. those things that would be considered disgusting by all people. The criteria are: 1. something you could eat 2. something that has or had a life of its own 3. something that has the power to make other things disgusting This last item is interesting – it causes the resistance by some people to sleep in a room where someone had died the night before, for example. For many, a dead body has the power to contaminate an environment. Consider a glass that had just been thoroughly sterilized and cleaned of pungent, maggot-infested rat droppings. If given the choice, would you skip over that glass and grab another? Would you be able to drink perfectly pure water recycled from urine, as astronauts do? Imagined contamination packs a powerful punch of disgust. Even as we’re preoccupied with such imaginary scenarios, we shovel real filth into our mouths. Take a look at the FDA’s Food Defect Action
