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Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Investigating Pain-Related Avoidance Behavior using a Robotic Arm-Reaching Paradigm
09:00

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Published on: October 3, 2020

Disgust as a disease-avoidance mechanism.

Megan Oaten1, Richard J Stevenson, Trevor I Case

  • 1Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Psychological Bulletin
|March 4, 2009
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

The emotion of disgust primarily functions to protect humans from disease. Research supports that disgust evolved as a disease-avoidance mechanism, influencing behaviors related to pathogen avoidance.

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary Psychology
  • Behavioral Biology
  • Emotions Research

Background:

  • The hypothesis that disgust protects against disease is widely discussed.
  • Previous reviews have not comprehensively examined the evidence for this claim.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To systematically review evidence supporting the disease-avoidance function of disgust.
  • To derive and test specific hypotheses from a disease-avoidance framework.

Main Methods:

  • Formulated 14 hypotheses based on the disease-avoidance account of disgust.
  • Evaluated evidence using research on animal pathogen avoidance and empirical studies on disgust.

Main Results:

  • Evidence strongly supported the disease-avoidance account for 13 out of 14 hypotheses.
  • Identified 'prepared features' that connote disease as key disgust elicitors.
  • Differentiated between simple (direct disease-related) and complex (norm violation-mediated) disgust.

Conclusions:

  • Disgust serves a crucial role in disease avoidance, both directly and indirectly.
  • Complex disgust, linked to societal norms, may function as a reminder of disease threats.
  • This framework unifies concrete and ideational aspects of disgust.