Disgust

Definition

Although there is much dispute about exactly what emotions are, everyone, starting with Charles Darwin in the 19th century, agrees that disgust is one of them. Disgust is almost always considered a basic emotion, often along with anger, fear, sadness, happiness, and surprise. Basic emotions, as defined most clearly by the psychologist Paul Ekman, are differentiated from more complex emotions on the grounds that basic emotions have some presence in nonhuman animals, are expressed and recognized universally in humans, and have a distinct facial expression.

Although disgust was clearly described by Charles Darwin in 1872 in his classic work, Expression of Emotions in Animals and Man, unlike anger, fear, and sadness, it was studied very little in psychology until the past few decades.

Behavioral, Expressive, and Physiological ...