Disgusteliciting

Disgusteliciting is an adjective describing stimuli, situations, or cues that provoke disgust, a basic human emotion associated with aversion, withdrawal, and a desire for cleansing. The term combines disgust with eliciting, signaling that something acts as a trigger for the emotional response. In scholarly writing, variants such as disgust-eliciting stimuli or disgust elicitors are commonly used.

In psychology, disgust elicitors are studied as part of research on the function of disgust in disease avoidance, food safety, and moral judgment. Disgust can be categorized into core disgust, which relates to bodily contamination, decay, and spoiled substances; and moral or social disgust, which involves judgments about ethical transgressions. Some literature also distinguishes between physical contamination cues and abstract moral triggers, examining how different elicitors shape perception and behavior.

Common disgust elicitors include spoiled or contaminated food, feces, vomit, bodily fluids, decay, and exposed gore. Social or moral triggers can involve acts perceived as taboo, dirty, or morally unacceptable, with cultural context shaping what is considered disgusting. Presentation, intensity, and context influence the strength of the response, and individual differences in disgust sensitivity or propensity can modulate reactions.

Responses to disgust elicitors are measured through self-report and objective indicators such as facial expressions, heart rate, and skin conductance. Neurologically, the insular cortex and related networks are implicated in processing disgust, alongside broader affective circuits. Disgust elicitation has applications in public health communication, product design, and clinical psychology, particularly in studies of contamination concerns and moral emotions, while remaining sensitive to cultural variability and individual differences.