Disgust

Disgust at Smell, Sight, Texture, Taste, and Attitudes (Contempt)

Disgust is a emotion that functions as a protective mechanism against potential sources of contamination or toxicity. 


It can be triggered by sensory stimuli such as unpleasant odors, signs of decay, sticky or slimy textures, and aversive tastes. 


Beyond its biological role, disgust is also involved in the experience of contempt — an emotion that arises in response to morally reprehensible behaviors, such as mean-spirited, cowardly, or dishonorable actions."



Description

When faced with a bad smell or the sight of something repulsive, I notice an immediate and distinct bodily reaction. 


In the case of unpleasant odors, the intensity of the response varies depending on the degree of aversiveness. 


A tension arises that pulls upward the area between the nose and the upper lip (where the nasolabial fold begins), causing it to wrinkle and lift — as if the face, for a moment, were trying to internally recoil from what causes repulsion. 


When I try to suppress this expression, I feel a localized tension in that region, as if a quiet effort were being made to inhibit the spontaneous response — but the tension is still there.


When confronted with something visually repulsive, I often feel a distinct activation in the lower part of the throat, which gives rise to a sensation of nausea, sometimes accompanied by a gag reflex. 


There may also be a slight discomfort in the stomach area, although the regions most intensely involved are usually around the mouth and the throat itself.


The behavioral impulse that tends to arise is to withdraw physically from the stimulus—whether by stepping back, turning my face away, squinting, or briefly closing my eyes, as if trying to block sensory input by every possible means.


Check here how I described the flow of sensations involved in emotions in general.

Check out these posts to understand the phenomenological approach used in providing these descriptions of experience: 1) What is Phenomenology; 2) Naturalization of Phenomenology; 3) Micro-Phenomenology; 4) Intersubjective Validation; 5) Embodied Cognition; 6) 4E






 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Complex Emotions

Image
 Envy, Jealousy, Guilt, Pride and Admiration How do you feel emotions such as envy, jealousy, guilt, pride, and admiration? Before moving on to my phenomenological description of these experiences, I invite you to investigate for yourself: how do these emotions manifest in you? 〰 Description In general, my perception of so-called complex emotions is that many of them do not exhibit expressive characteristics or bodily sensations as clearly defined as those found in the so-called “ basic emotions .” However, some exceptions stand out. Shame , for example — considered by some theories to be a complex emotion — has a very clear and recognizable expressive configuration and bodily sensations ( see here ). Envy and Jealousy In my experience, envy and jealousy do not have phenomenological features distinct enough to differentiate them from basic emotions based solely on bodily sensation or expression. What seems to distinguish them are the cognitive appraisals involved and the contexts ...
Read more

Micro-phenomenology

Microphenomenology is an investigative method developed by Claire Petitmengin (2006) within the context of neurophenomenology, building upon Pierre Vermersch's explicitation interview (1994).  It was designed to obtain precise and in-depth descriptions of the structure of lived experience, aiming to access and elucidate the subtlest details of subjective experiences that are often inaccessible to spontaneous introspection.  By doing so, it seeks to uncover pre-reflective micro-gestures that shape our experience before they become the object of conscious reflection. While neurophenomenology ( Varela , 1996) places emphasis on a first-person approach, requiring subjects to be trained in phenomenological and contemplative practices such as mindfulness, microphenomenology shifts the emphasis to a second-person approach, embodied in the figure of the interviewer.  In this method, the subjects interviewed do not need prior training in phenomenological techniques, as they ar...
Read more

Essence of the Experience

Image
  Invariants In phenomenology ( see here ) , invariants are the essential characteristics of phenomena — those aspects that remain unchanged even when the experience is observed from different viewpoints. They are the fundamental elements that make a particular experience what it is, rather than something else. For these invariants to become apparent to consciousness, the phenomenon must be examined from multiple perspectives. This movement is known as eidetic variation. By imaginatively varying the appearances of a phenomenon, we attempt to reduce the experience to that which is irreducible — its essence ( eidos,  from the Greek εἶδος ). This is the gesture of eidetic reduction . Let us take a simple example: what does it mean to experience a triangle ? A triangle may be scalene, isosceles, or equilateral; it may be large or small, colored or monochrome; it may be drawn on paper, cut from fabric, projected on a screen, and oriented in different directions in space. Despite a...
Read more