22 marker - Discuss one evolutionary explanation of one behaviour.

Introduction
Definitions
Disgust: A feeling of revulsion or strong disapproval, aroused by something
unpleasant or offensive.
Behavior: The way in which one acts or conducts themselves towards another.
Evolution: The process by which different kinds of living organism are believed to
have developed from earlier forms during the history of the earth.

Body
Study 1 - Curtis et al (2004)
Method - 40,000 individuals from 165 countries completed a web-based
survey using 20 photo stimuli. Photos were either made up of infectious or potentially harmful
stimuli, or non-infectious stimuli. Participants were asked to rank their level of disgust from 1 to
5 for each photo.
Results - Images of objects holding a potential disease threat were reported as
significantly more disgusting than similar images with little or no disease relevance. Results
were similar around the world. Furthermore, females rated higher consistently, and older people
voted lower disgust.
Link - These results provide evidence that the human disgust emotion may be an
evolved response to objects in the environment that represent threats of infectious disease.
CT x2
1. High population validity - 40,000 people, 165 countries
2. Social desirability - Had to rank their own disgust levels.

Study 2 - Grill (1978)
Method - A taste stimulus is injected directly into the oral cavity of a freely
moving rat. The immediate response was filmed for analysis. Stimuli was either sucrose
(pleasure) or quinine (disgust).
Results - Responses were highly consistent. Sucrose stimulated the rats to make
rhythmic mouth movements and tongue protrusions. However, quinine led to gaping which is a
sign of attempted vomiting in other animals.
Link - The displeasure from the quinine represents the disgust felt by the rat.
Gaping is an adaptation used to attempt to eject harmful substances from the body. This
response could have evolved to protect rats from harm.

CT x2
1. Anthropomorphism - Attribution of human characteristics to an animal.
Do rats vomit for the same reason as humans? This is assumed, but not
proven.
 2. Low ecological validity - Rats were born and bred in a lab, with no
exposure to the outside world. This could affect results.

Study 3 - Navarrete et al (2007)

Method - It was predicted that disgust played a role in xenophobia (negative
attitudes towards foreign people), and this can cause a more positive attitude to those in the
ingroup. It was argued that this is due to the heightened risk of people outside the ingroup
carrying potentially harmful pathogens that could damage ones immune system. Using self
report techniques, the researcher explored the expression of intergroup attitudes in a sample of
pregnant woman in the United States.
Results - Results indicated that favouritism towards the ingroup, peaked during
the first trimester of pregnancy, and decreased from there on after. This is in correlation to the
immune system functioning during pregnancy. Decreased immune system functioning during
first trimester, and increased to regular levels in the final two trimesters. It was also found that
there was no such effect on attitudes towards culturally familiar immigrant populations.
Link - This study provides evidence for the disease-threat model, which claims
that we feel disgust when there is a threat imminent, as this study shows that pregnant
women are more xenophobic during a time of decreased immunity. This suggests that
when pathogens are more harmful, we feel more disgust - hence supporting the idea of
this evolutionary behavior.
CT x2
1. Low population validity - Gynocentric (Only women involved), Low cross
cultural validity (Only woman from USA)
2. Low internal validity - Several extraneous variables, which are
uncontrollable such as certain peoples ingroups. It is a natural
experiment, which means that the data is gathered through observations
over everyday life.

Conclusion

These three studies show clearly that the behavior of disgust has evolved over time due to
evolution, in order to protect ourselves from harm through disease, as each study shows in a
different way. This behavior is clearly a product of evolution, as disgust is shown to often be a
subconscious behavior - as evident in circumstances where, for example, disgust can show us
which person presents a threat of disease and who doesnt - even though they might look
exactly the same.