Disgustate

Disgustate is a neologism used in some contemporary discussions of emotion and moral psychology to describe an intensified state of disgust that combines visceral revulsion with explicit moral or ethical evaluation. While not a standardized term, it is typically applied to situations in which a person’s aversion is accompanied by judgments about wrongness, contamination, or norm violation, producing a sustained and action-oriented response rather than a fleeting preference.

Etymology and usage guidelines vary, but the term generally emerges from the combination of disgust with the suffix -ate to denote a state or condition. In scholarly and public discussions, disgustate is often contrasted with simple dislike or aesthetic aversion, emphasizing the moral or normative dimensions of the reaction rather than purely sensory ones.

Causes and triggers commonly cited include graphic or taboo stimuli, perceived violations of social or moral norms, and concerns about contamination or danger. Media exposure, debates about ethics, and encounters with practices deemed abhorrent can all elicit disgustate responses, which may be accompanied by physiological signs such as facial scrunching, nausea, or rapid heartbeat. Cultural context and individual differences shape which stimuli provoke disgustate and how strongly it is felt.

Cognitive and neural perspectives link disgustate to the same networks implicated in disgust more broadly, notably the insula and related circuits, while emphasizing the role of appraisal and social learning in inflating or mitigating the reaction. In discourse, disgustate is used to analyze how moral judgments become entangled with emotional responses, influencing attitudes, policy, and collective action. Related concepts include disgust, moral emotion, and the politics of disgust.