If you’re easily grossed out and havevbeen made fun of for your seemingly irrational fears, this new study is for you. The next time someone tries to make you feel like you’re overreacting to bugs in the house or a bit of mold on some cheese, you can remind them that, according to science, feeling disgusted actually keeps us healthy. In other words, being afraid of that dive bar’s nasty bathroom or not wanting to walk through muck without your wellies means that you’re highly evolved.
The study, led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), surveyed over 2,500 people online and listed 75 potentially “disgusting” scenarios we might encounter. According to CNN, some of the situations listed included: your friend showing you an “oozing lesion on his foot,” feeling something sticky on a handle you touch, “lumpy, stale milk” on cereal, a hairless cat rubbing on your leg, spotting a cockroach in the kitchen, or seeing a woman pick her nose.
For the record, two-thirds of the respondents were women with an average age of 28 years old. The scenario rated most disgusting was a wound with pus coming out of it, followed by most “violations of hygiene norms,” such as someone with BO or a nose-picker.
They found that there were six very obvious categories of disgust, and all of them are directly related to ancestral diseases. The categories were poor hygiene, promiscuous sex, animals that bring disease, wounds, rotten food, and atypical appearances.
For example, in the past, coming close to someone with bad hygiene could lead to leprosy, and eating spoiled food could mean contracting cholera. Contact with open wounds could lead to the plague or smallpox. Promiscuous sex could lead to infectious diseases. See the historical connections?
Originally created from here.