You have probably experienced it before. The physical recoil
when your partner does something absolutely atrocious in front of you. Maybe
its their toe shoes or how they say expresso instead of espresso, but whatever
it is, you know one thing is for certain: you just got the ick.
Ew! Gross! What is causing this reaction?
Some can consider the ick as a modern way of describing a
sudden feeling of disgust or loss of attraction. Disgust is associated with
changes in the body’s autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system
controls many of our automatic bodily functions like breathing and digestion
and can respond to many stimuli. Our emotions can produce different patterns of
physiological responses within the autonomic nervous system (Levenson, 1992).
When we experience disgust, both the sympathetic and
parasympathetic nervous system responds. This can cause a number of responses
in the body like nausea and churning, increased salivation, and, surprisingly,
decrease heart rate (De Jong et al., 2011). Interestingly, one study found that
disgust can be associated with a decrease in heart rate. When participants were
exposed to disease-related disgust stimuli, they presented with a decrease
heart rate (Rohrmann & Hopp, 2008).
In the case of a severe reaction, the sympathetic nervous
system may kick in. The body’s fight or flight response is all thanks to the
sympathetic nervous system. One pathway we are familiar with is the SAM pathway,
a quick signaling pathway that signals the adrenal medulla to release
epinephrine that increases heart rate, breathing, blood flow, and other
responses to prepare the body for action. In the case of the ick, the
sympathetic nervous system can activate if the feeling of disgust is stressful
enough.
What is the purpose of all these uncomfortable reactions?
Disgust is thought to function as a protective response that encourages us to get
away from things that could potentially be harmful or contaminated. In other
words, that sudden feeling of “absolutely not” may be your body’s way of
encouraging you to distance yourself from whatever triggered the disgust
response. So, the next time your partner does something that makes you suddenly
think ew, what the heck is wrong with you, remember that your body is
also saying ew too.
References
De Jong, P. J., van Overveld, M., & Peters, M. L.
(2011). Sympathetic and parasympathetic responses to a core disgust video clip
as a function of disgust propensity and disgust sensitivity. Biological
Psychology, 88(2–3), 174–179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2011.07.009
Levenson, R. W. (1992). Autonomic Nervous Systems
Differences among Emotions. Psychological Science (0956-7976), 3(1),
23–27. Levenson, R. W. (1992). Autonomic Nervous Systems Differences among
Emotions. Psychological Science (0956-7976), 3(1), 23–27. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.1992.tb00251.x
Rohrmann, S., & Hopp, H. (2008). Cardiovascular
indicators of disgust. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 68(3),
201–208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2008.01.011
Is there a way to overcome the "ick?" It also seems like a common trend on social media now. For example, some of the smaller interactions between a couple that results in an "ick" doesn't seem to be all that serious. So, do you think this can be an overused term as well?
ReplyDeleteThis is what I was thinking too! I also wonder if this evolved from when we used to mate a long time ago and got the ick in a selection sense as well. Did getting the ick mean that you would deter from mating with someone? And are there levels to getting the ick that have a variety of responses. Really interesting and intriguing post?
DeleteThis is really interesting, I did not know that disgust triggered both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems! We talk about so many stimuli and how they activate these pathways in our bodies, and how they react to the stressor. Disgust is one I feel like is not talked about often, and I would be curious to see how individualized the stress and rest response to disgust from person to person. Is there some people who experience the "ick" more severely than others, and are there individuals who can suppress the effects of this stimuli? Could this affect how well an individual could judge a situation for safety or security?
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting that both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems can be involved in the disgust response. I always thought of the sympathetic system as just being the “fight or flight” system. Does the decrease in heart rate during disgust happen because of the parasympathetic response, or can both systems be affecting the heart rate at the same time?
ReplyDeleteI agree with bradley, I feel like the word "ick" is being overused for reactions that could be considered something else. Especially with social media and tiktok mosly, one person breathes a certain way and boom people in the comments automatically have an ick on how that person breathes. I feel like the ick feeling can also be described as annoyment and irritation even though all three might make our nervous system feel the exact same way.
ReplyDeleteThis post brings up a very popular topic of getting the ick and shines a whole new light on the idea. I think it is fascinating that your body has a repulsion to something your brain thought was icky so to speak. This makes me wonder how does your body respond when you have an ick to a person during long periods of time. For instance how would your body respond if you developed an ick for your coworker that you have to see every day?
ReplyDeleteThis is actually super funny, I never would've thought about the "ick" in such a physiological way! Why is it that we associate disgust with danger?
ReplyDelete