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Don't Look, Don't Touch, Don't Eat: The Science Behind Revulsion
Every flu season, sneezing, coughing, and graphic throat-clearing become the day-to-day background noise in every workplace. And coworkers tend to move as far—and as quickly—away from the source of these bodily eruptions as possible. Instinctively, humans recoil from objects that they view as dirty and even struggle to overcome feelings of discomfort once the offending item has been cleaned. These reactions are universal, and although there are cultural and individual variations, by and large we are all disgusted by the same things.
In Don’t Look, Don’t Touch, Don’t Eat , Valerie Curtis builds a strong case for disgust as a “shadow emotion”—less familiar than love or sadness, it nevertheless affects our day-to-day lives. In disgust, biological and sociocultural factors meet in dynamic ways to shape human and animal behavior. Curtis traces the evolutionary role of disgust in disease prevention and hygiene, but also shows that it is much more than a biological mechanism. Human social norms, from good manners to moral behavior, are deeply rooted in our sense of disgust. The disgust reaction informs both our political opinions and our darkest tendencies, such as misogyny and racism. Through a deeper understanding of disgust, Curtis argues, we can take this ubiquitous human emotion and direct it towards useful ends, from combating prejudice to reducing disease in the poorest parts of the world by raising standards of hygiene.
Don’t Look, Don’t Touch, Don’t Eat reveals disgust to be a vital part of what it means to be human and explores how this deep-seated response can be harnessed to improve the world.
In Don’t Look, Don’t Touch, Don’t Eat , Valerie Curtis builds a strong case for disgust as a “shadow emotion”—less familiar than love or sadness, it nevertheless affects our day-to-day lives. In disgust, biological and sociocultural factors meet in dynamic ways to shape human and animal behavior. Curtis traces the evolutionary role of disgust in disease prevention and hygiene, but also shows that it is much more than a biological mechanism. Human social norms, from good manners to moral behavior, are deeply rooted in our sense of disgust. The disgust reaction informs both our political opinions and our darkest tendencies, such as misogyny and racism. Through a deeper understanding of disgust, Curtis argues, we can take this ubiquitous human emotion and direct it towards useful ends, from combating prejudice to reducing disease in the poorest parts of the world by raising standards of hygiene.
Don’t Look, Don’t Touch, Don’t Eat reveals disgust to be a vital part of what it means to be human and explores how this deep-seated response can be harnessed to improve the world.
184 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
3 people are currently reading
243 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 24, 2022
Fascinating
February 12, 2017
Straight forward and well exposed writing. That's a big deal for something this academic in nature: After page 109 comes twenty pages with end note citations. I may have enjoyed it more either shorter (concise) or longer (detailed).
My take-away: Pathogen Avoidance Theory - maybe both parasite (biological) and pariah (social).
My take-away: Pathogen Avoidance Theory - maybe both parasite (biological) and pariah (social).
April 23, 2016
Don't Look Don't Touch Don't Eat is a study of disgust. Why do we find certain things disgusting. The author says that disgust is a natural defense that protects us from parasites and disease. It is seen in non-human animals as well. Valerie Curtis follows disgust to the development of manners in human societies and demonstrates that manners also help protect against disease and contamination.
One thing she did not answer is why some societies are disgusted by certain foods while others find them a delicacy. Consider rotten meat or half developed duck eggs that are eaten in some places but would repel me.
One thing she did not answer is why some societies are disgusted by certain foods while others find them a delicacy. Consider rotten meat or half developed duck eggs that are eaten in some places but would repel me.
October 19, 2015
This is an excellent book on disgust as an emotion that starts from epidemiology and then moves over to the social sciences, psychology and newly emerging areas of the neurosciences. Some might find the belief in the opportunities of the neurosciences a bit overplayed and the view of science a bit limited but that did not undermine my enjoyment of the book.
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October 3, 2013Looks like a real page-turner: http://www.washingtonpost.com/nationa...
May 17, 2015
Book seemed to have lots of promise at the beginning but clearly lost me with the confusing prose and lack of clear organization. I appreciated a integration of behavior and evolution It may be overstated a bit but there should be more original research on her hypotheses.
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May 1, 2015University of Chicago Press's free ebook for May 2015. DRM epub, requires an email address and Adobe Digital Editions to download.
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May 1, 2015May free ebook from U of Chicago. Looks like research.
June 7, 2015
I really enjoyed this look at the science of disgust. It was quite enlightening and gave me a whole new look at manners and other human and animal interactions.
November 5, 2015
Interesting study. I found the information presented well and written in an engaging style. There is much food for thought here.
June 5, 2015
miniread fre-ebook UofC.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews